Dive Brief:

• West Yorkshire Trading Standards Service, a U.K. public laboratory, found that 38% of 900 samples tested were mislabeled, and some had additional issues.
• Among issues uncovered were mozzarella that was only half real cheese, meat that contained additional unlisted species, vodka with isopropanol, herbal tea containing no herbs or tea, and the use of additives banned in the European Union, like brominated vegetable oils.
• The most questionable of the products tested? Food supplements, with 38 of the 43 samples (88%) tested receiving negative reports.

Dive Insight:

These reports come at a time that many in the E.U. are still concerned about last year's massive horse meat scandal. While one-third of food products showing questionable results during testing in a U.K. lab might not turn a number of heads in the U.S., it should. Without a great deal of attention to the supply chain, something that is already questionable given reported incidents of child slavery in the cocoa supply chain, we could very well face the same problems — if we don't already.