Software that predicts terrorist traits can detect food fraud

New York

IS THAT Parmesan cheese or sawdust? With food fraud on the rise, a software that employs methods used to predict terrorist behaviour can help settle the question, according to its developers.

The program, called EMAlert, models the decision-making behaviour of fraudsters when they decide which food commodities to adulterate. Increasing cases of fraud have spurred consumer distrust, Joseph Scimeca, the vice-president of regulatory and scientific affairs at Cargill Inc, said in an interview. Mr Scimeca chairs a working group on fraud at the Grocery Manufacturers of America, a trade organisation for food, beverage and consumer products companies, which developed the software with Battelle Memorial Institute, a non-profit research and development organisation.