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Inside the Secret World of Global Food Spies

  • Retail giants turn to bitcoin technology to combat food-fraud
  • Fraud costs global food industry up to $40 billion every year
Bloomberg business news

Confused About What to Eat? You're Not Alone

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A bowl of ice cream on a hot day in Shanghai gave American Mitchell Weinberg the worst bout of food poisoning he can recall. It also inspired the then-trade consultant to set up Inscatech — a global network of food spies.

In demand by multinational retailers and food producers, Inscatech and its agents scour supply chains around the world hunting for evidence of food industry fraud and malpractice. In the eight years since he founded the New York-based firm, Weinberg, 52, says China continues to be a key growth area for fraudsters as well as those developing technologies trying to counter them.