Chris Elliott on fighting food fraud
Professor Chris Elliott tells Jim Al-Khalili how new molecular fingerprinting technology can help us scupper food fraudsters and avoid another horse meat scam.
Professor Chris Elliott is something of a 鈥榝ood detective鈥�.
A Professor of Food Safety and Microbiology at Queen's University Belfast and a founding director of its Institute for Global Food Security (IGFS), his work is all about developing scientific solutions to protect us from contaminated food, be it accidental or criminal.
Following the 2013 horse meat scandal 鈥� when prepared foods purporting to be made from beef were found to contain undeclared horse-meat 鈥� Chris conducted the independent review of the UK food system that brought to light the growing threat of food crime. Since then, his name鈥檚 become synonymous with solving cases of food fraud; today he receives regular tip-offs on everything from oregano scams to dodgy potatoes.
But as Chris tells Jim Al-Khalili, his team at the IGFS are pioneering new techniques to read the molecular fingerprint of foodstuffs, with technology that they hope will stop the fraudsters in their tracks鈥�
Producer: Lucy Taylor
Last on
Broadcasts
- Tue 10 Jan 2023 09:00成人快手 Radio 4
- Tue 10 Jan 2023 21:30成人快手 Radio 4
Sleep 鈥� the mystery state
What is the secret to a good nights sleep? Professor Jim Al-Khalili explores.
Is your mind a machine?
Daniel Dennett thinks so. Here is what we learned from his Life Scientific.
Podcast
-
![]()
The Life Scientific
Professor Jim Al-Khalili talks to leading scientists about their life and work.
