IN Brief:
- Processed foods accounted for 19.8% of regulatory food fraud reports in 2025.
- Dairy followed at 13.5%, with beverages at 12.8%, keeping the same leading risk groups as 2024.
- Labelling fraud, non-food substances, and dilution remained the main fraud types identified.
Food Authenticity Network has identified processed foods, milk and dairy products, and beverages as the commodity groups most exposed to food fraud in 2025, with its latest global trends data showing a continued rise in reported cases over the past three years.
The network’s annual review of global food fraud reporting found processed foods accounted for 19.8% of regulatory reports last year, followed by dairy at 13.5% and beverages at 12.8%. The same three groups also topped the rankings in 2024, although beverages were then in first place. Across the wider dataset, which also includes media and peer-reviewed reports, dairy, meat and poultry, and herbs and spices remained prominent categories.
The underlying pattern is less about one-off product scares than structural exposure. Multi-ingredient foods are harder to verify, ingredient substitution can be difficult to detect without targeted testing, and complex sourcing models create more room for origin, composition, and labelling breaches. The latest breakdown also puts labelling fraud, the use of non-food substances, and dilution among the most common methods being identified.
For manufacturers, the report adds to the pressure on supplier assurance, specification control, and authenticity testing at a time when ingredient costs remain unsettled. Categories carrying multiple inputs, reformulation pressure, or long international supply chains are likely to stay under close scrutiny through the rest of the year.
