Vulnerability Assessment Tool 2.0.

1
Food Fraud Advisors 2017

Click here for step-by-step instructions and estimated time to complete

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About:
This spreadsheet is a tool that is designed to help you, a food business, perform and document an assessment of your products, ingredients and raw materials for vulnerability
to food fraud.

A vulnerability assessment is similar to a conventional risk assessment, in that it considers the likelihood that food fraud (the risk) will occur and the severity of the
consequences if it does occur. The likelihood and consequences are plotted on a risk matrix to determine the overall risk. For a vulnerability assessment the result is an
estimate of the vulnerability of the material to food fraud.

Initial screening assessments and full vulnerability assessments can be conducted with this tool.

What does it do:

The spreadsheet prompts the user to answer a series of questions about a food ingredient, raw material or product or a group of materials or products. Users can also add
comments to support the assessment. The spreadsheet takes the answers and comments and automatically populates a printable risk assessment document containing scope,
vulnerability rating ,risk matrix and a complete description of all characteristics that were considered during the vulnerability assessment.

What it does not do:

The tool is designed to address vulnerabilities within a food business' supply chain. It does not address the threat of fraudulent activities occurring within the business
performing the assessment, which means not within the business' own processes or facility(s).
It does not replace the judgement of an expert person, who should review all results and make the final decisions regarding likelihood of occurrence and the consequences.
Calculated results can be over-ridden by the user.

How to use the Vulnerability Assessment Tool:

Create a new excel file for each material or group of materials. A material group is a family of food ingredients, raw materials or products that are of similar composition and
have similar supply chain characteristics. If you are unsure of which materials to include within a group, just start with your best guess; when using the tool it will soon be clear
whether you can include more materials within a group and it is simple to expand the scope after you have started if you wish to do so.

Collect information about the material group and use it to answer questions in the worksheets. You do not need all the information on hand to start, you can add or change the
information at any time. Start with your best guess and update your answers as you learn more.

When you have answered all the questions, view and print the results. Section 1 of the results defines the purpose and scope, author, date and review date. Section 2 of the
results contains the vulnerability rating, risk matrix and information about what was considered in the assessment. You can print to paper, print to pdf or copy and paste the
results into a larger document.

If you wish to add a brief description of controls that are in place to prevent, detect, deter and mitigate food fraud risks, there are optional worksheets to prepare and print a
control plan.

Click here for step-by-step instructions and estimated time to complete

The fine print:

While all care has been taken by the author, not all vulnerabilities will be identified by this spreadsheet. A material group that is identified by the Vulnerability Assessment Tool
as being low risk may nevertheless be affected by food fraud as well as other threats to food safety and integrity.

The author and publisher give no assurance whatsoever that the content and/or documents generated with this tool will meet the requirements of any management system
standard, regulatory standard, code of practice, auditing system or any auditor.

Frequently asked questions:

Suggested citation: Food Fraud Advisors 2017, Vulnerability Assessment Tool 2.0.1 Instructions:

Licence agreement:
You may make as many copies of this spreadsheet as you need for ONE food business in one manufacturing location. If you work for more than one food business, for example
as a consultant, please purchase a separate licence for each food business. If you are using this for research or educational purposes please acknowledge the authors Food
Fraud Advisors 2017.

Suggested citation: Food Fraud Advisors 2017, Vulnerability Assessment Tool 2.0
Click here for the full licence terms and conditions

Click here for frequently asked Get started

questions (and their answers)
This page is designed for easy reading, not for printing. If you really want to print it, use landscape orientation, narrow margins and choose scaling 'fit sheet to one page', it will be readable
 Vulnerability Assessment Tool, Food Fraud Advisors 2017

Vulnerability Assessment for Food Fraud then click on

the arrows
click and hold this that appear
here
cell to start

Initial screening or full assessment? Full Assessment Help

Product or ingredient or raw material? Ingredient Help

(choose from the dropdown list)

Insert name of material or material group

Ingredient(s) or raw material(s) group
here

Company name Type the name of the food business here

Manufacturing site Site(s) for this assessment

Prepared by Insert your name here

Insert your job title here

Date 9-Sep-19
Review due date 9-Mar-20

Back to Instructions page

Materials included in this assessment

Name of group Insert group name at top of page

Type a description of the group of materials

Description of group here

Used in these products (disregard if you Briefly describe product range/s that contain
are performing a vulnerability assessment on a product this ingredient or raw material. If you need
or product group) more space, use product list sheet. Go to product list sheet

Material names and/or codes included in this assessment

add material names

 Vulnerability Assessment Tool, Food Fraud Advisors 2017

Back to Instructions page

 Vulnerability Assessment Tool, Food Fraud Advisors 2017

Instructions
Define the scope of your vulnerability assessment on this
worksheet.

Use dropdown lists to populate the yellow boxes. You may need
to click and hold the yellow boxes to see the dropdown list.

Type information into the green boxes.

The information you enter here is reproduced on the front page

of the completed assessment document ('Results section 1').
The information can be changed at any time by returning to this
worksheet; the results pages cannot be edited directly.

The review due date is a suggestion only, both dates can be

edited.

Defining the group of materials

A material group is a family of ingredients, raw materials or

products that are of similar composition and have similar supply
chain characteristics. If you are unsure of which materials to
include within a group, just start with your best guess. As you
answer questions on the other worksheets it will soon be clear
whether you can include more materials within a group or not.
It is simple to expand or reduce the scope after you have started;
simply return to this page and add or remove items from the
table of materials.

Creating a list of products that contain the ingredient

If you are performing a vulnerability assessment on an ingredient
or raw material it is not neccessary to create a detailed list of
products that contain the material. However, when answering
questions on the 'Consequences worksheet' you may find it
helpful. This depends on the material and how widely it is used
within your product ranges.
Vulnerability Assessment; likelihood
Insert material name on Scope Worksheet click
this
Likelihood of food fraud affecting this ingredient or raw material
cell to
start then click
on the
Element Question Help Your arrow that
answer appears
L1 Historic incidents Is this material one that Info (link to webpage) here
has been implicated in
previous incidences of
food fraud?
L2 Emerging Have there been any Info (link to webpage)
concerns recent alerts or news
about food fraud for this
material?

L3 Size of market Does the international Info

market for this material
have a large monetary
value?

L4 Price Is this an expensive Info

material?
L5 Price fluctuations Is the price of this
material subject to
frequent, large
fluctuations?
L6 Trading properties Is this material traded on Info
specific properties such
as nitrogen content?
L7 Geographic Is this material sourced Info
origins from countries or regions
that are politically
unstable or very poor?

LOCKED
L8 Info

LOCKED
L9

LOCKED
L10 Info

L11 Complexity of Do you consider the Info

supply chain supply chain of this
material to be complex
and/or long?
L12 Ease of access to Is the supply chain of a Info
material type that allows multiple
points of entry for
fraudulent material?

LOCKED
L13 Info

LOCKED
L15 Info

LOCKED
L16

LOCKED
L17 Info

LOCKED
L18

LOCKED
L19

LOCKED
L20

L21 Supply chain Is the supply chain Info

audits audited by your business
or by third parties?

LOCKED
L22 Info

LOCKED
L23

L24 Routine testing Is this material subjected Info

to routine authenticity
tests?

LOCKED
L25 Info

LOCKED
L26 Info

L27 Likelihood An automatically Info Very unlikely

(Calculated) generated likelihood
(calculated)
L28 User estimate of Choose your own
likelihood estimate of likelihood that
food fraud will affect this
material prior to arrival at
your facility

Back to Instructions page

Forward to Consequences worksheet

then click
on the
Results
arrow that
appears
here
Very unlikely to be affected
Very unlikely to be affected
Your Comments Likelihood worksheet instructions
Use this worksheet to help assess the likelihood that food fraud will
affect this material prior to it entering your facility.

You can enter information into the white cells. The blue cells cannot
be edited.

Read the question in column 3 of the table, then choose an answer

by clicking on the cell in column 5 and choosing from the dropdown
list.

Add comments that support your answer or provide more

information (optional).
The information in the results column and the comments you enter
are reproduced in the printable vulnerability assessment document
('Results section 2'). The information in the results page can be
changed at any time by returning to this sheet; the printable results
pages cannot be edited directly.

For help with the questions, click on the links in the 'Help' column.

Delete this text box or drag it off-screen if you wish to enter

comments.
Type your comments about food fraud affecting this material here
Type your comments about food fraud affecting this material here
Vulnerability Assessment; consequences
Insert material name on Scope Worksheet
Consequences of food fraud on this ingredient or raw material

Element Question Help Your

answer start
here
C1 Characterising Is this a characterising Info
Ingredient ingredient of any product?

LOCKED
C2 Info

C3 Micro ingredient Is this ingredient used

only in very small
amounts? (always less
than 1% of product)

LOCKED
C4 Info

LOCKED
C5 Info

C6 Allergens Is this material used in Info

products that are
allergen-free or marketed
with "free-from" allergen-
related claims? (include
gluten)

LOCKED
C7 Info

LOCKED
C8 Info

LOCKED
C9 Info
 LOCKED
C10 Info

C11 Price Is this an expensive

material?

C12 Other economic Are there any other Info

considerations economic considerations
to include? If yes, add
comments.

C13 Consequences Consequences of food Info Negligible

(severity) fraud within supply chain
Calculated for this product group (calculated)
C14 Consequences User estimate of
(severity) consequences (optional)
User rating

Back to Instructions page

View and print results

 Results
start
here
Negligible consequences
 Consequences worksheet instructions
Your Comments Use this worksheet to help assess the consequences if food fraud
affected this material.

You can enter information into the white cells. The coloured cells
cannot be edited.
Read the question in column 3 of the table, then choose an answer by
clicking on the cell in column 5 and choosing from the dropdown list.

Add comments that support your answer or provide more information

(optional).

If you wish to copy the answers from another excel file, that will work
fine.

The information in the results column and the comments you enter are
reproduced in the printable vulnerability assessment document
('Results section 2'). The information in the results page can be changed
at any time by returning to this sheet; the printable results pages cannot
be edited directly.

For help with the questions, click on the links in the 'Help' column.

Delete this text box or drag it off-screen if you wish to enter comments.
Type your comments about the consequences if food fraud was to affect this material here
 Vulnerability Assessment Tool, Food Fraud Advisors 2017

Vulnerability Assessment for Food Fraud

Material Enter group name on scope worksheet
Company name Name of food business

Site(s) Site(s) for this assessment

Prepared by Enter your name on the scope worksheet

Enter your job title on the scope worksheet

Date 9-Sep-19

Review due date 9-Mar-20

Purpose and scope

This is an assessment of vulnerability to food fraud, including economically motivated
adulteration, substitution or dilution (EMA) for the ingredient(s) and/or raw material(s)
listed below. It assesses vulnerabilities prior to receipt and use of the material, it does
not address vulnerabilities within this facility.

Materials included in this assessment

Material group Enter group name on scope worksheet

Description

Used in these
products

Material names and/or codes included in this assessment

Insert your company's standard document control features here

 Vulnerability Assessment Tool, Food Fraud Advisors 2017

Initial Screening for Food Fraud - free trial version

Food Fraud Advisors' Vulnerability Assessment Tool
Likelihood vs consequences

Relatively likely to
occur, severe
impact

Key
Red areas = high risk; a complete vulnerability assessment is required
Yellow areas = medium risk: a full vulnerability assessment should be performed
Green areas = low risk

Estimate of likelihood is based on the following:

Historic incidents

Emerging concerns

Other concerns

Likelihood This material is relatively like to be affected by food fraud

Estimate of impact is based on the following:

Health hazards

Financial impacts

Other impacts

Insert your company's standard document control features here

 Vulnerability Assessment Tool, Food Fraud Advisors 2017

Consequences Food fraud in this material would have severe impacts on the business.

Insert your company's standard document control features here

 Vulnerability Assessment Tool, Food Fraud Advisors 2017

Vulnerability assessment document, section 1: purpose and scope

This is the first page of your completed vulnerability assessment document.

If you have performed an initial screening, this is the only page of your
assessment; scroll down to see the initial screening results.

The information on this page can be printed to paper, exported to pdf or

you can copy and paste the results into a larger document. Be sure to add
document control features including page numbers, document
identification and date or version number.
If you are pasting the results from this sheet into a new excel document use
the 'Paste special' function, then choose 'values' to avoid copying formulas
that will look strange in the new spreadsheet.

This sheet cannot be edited. If you wish to change any details, return to the
Scope worksheet.

If the title of this page is incorrect ('Initial Screening rather than

'Vulnerability Assessment'), check the information in the yellow boxes in
the Scope worksheet.
Delete this text box prior to printing.

Insert your company's standard document control features here

 Vulnerability Assessment Tool, Food Fraud Advisors 2017

Vulnerability Assessment for Food Fraud

Enter material name on scope worksheet

Summary

Material Enter material name on scope worksheet

Likelihood of this material being

Very unlikely to be affected
affected by food fraud

Consequences of food fraud on

Negligible consequences
this material

Vulnerability Estimate Low risk

Food safety warning: adulteration or substitution of any ingredient means a risk to food safety

Likelihood
Very unlikely

Fairly likely

Very likely/
Unlikely

certain
Likely

Negligible X
Consequences

Minor

Moderate

Significant

Severe

Key
Red areas = high risk; urgent action is required and regular monitoring may be needed
Yellow areas = medium risk: action is needed with occasional monitoring to mitigate the risk
Green areas = low risk

Insert your company's standard document control features here

 Vulnerability Assessment Tool, Food Fraud Advisors 2017

Assessment of likelihood that food fraud will affect this material

Historic incidents

Emerging concerns

Size of market

Price

Price fluctuations

Trading properties

Geographic origins

LOCKED

LOCKED

LOCKED

Complexity of
supply chain
0

Ease of access to
material

Insert your company's standard document control features here

 Vulnerability Assessment Tool, Food Fraud Advisors 2017

LOCKED

LOCKED

LOCKED

LOCKED

LOCKED

LOCKED

LOCKED

Supply chain audits

LOCKED

LOCKED

Routine testing

Insert your company's standard document control features here

 Vulnerability Assessment Tool, Food Fraud Advisors 2017

LOCKED

LOCKED

Likelihood Very unlikely to be affected

Assessment of the consequences of food fraud

Characterising
Ingredient

LOCKED

Micro ingredient

LOCKED

LOCKED

Allergens

LOCKED

LOCKED

Insert your company's standard document control features here

 Vulnerability Assessment Tool, Food Fraud Advisors 2017

LOCKED

LOCKED

Price

Other economic
considerations

Consequences Negligible consequences

(severity)

Insert your company's standard document control features here

 Vulnerability Assessment Tool, Food Fraud Advisors 2017

Vulnerability assessment document: results

This is the second part of your completed vulnerability assessment

document.

The information here can be edited by returning to the Likelihood

worksheet and the Consequences worksheet. If you disagree with the
results, simply return to the relevant worksheet and change your estimate
of likelihood or consequences in the bottom row of the table; the results
on this sheet will update automatically.

The information on this sheet can be printed to paper, exported to pdf or

you can copy and paste the results into a larger document. Be sure to add
document control features including page numbers, document
identification and date or version number.

If you are pasting into a new excel document use the 'Paste special'
function, then choose 'values' to avoid copying formulas that will look
strange in the new spreadsheet.
Delete this text box prior to printing.

Insert your company's standard document control features here

 Vulnerability Assessment Tool, Food Fraud Advisors 2017

Comments
The Vulnerability Assessment Tool does not enforce a limit on the length of
comments that users can add.

However if you added very lengthy comments when performing your

assessment the final parts of some comments may be obscured in this
table.

To fix this problem adjust the row height of affected cells by right clicking
the row number at the left of the screen. Increase the row height until all
of your comments are visible.
Delete this text box prior to printing.

Insert your company's standard document control features here

 Vulnerability Assessment Tool, Food Fraud Advisors 2017

Instructions Back to Introduction

Food Fraud Advisors 2017

Overview:
Create a new excel file for each material or group of materials. A material group is a family of ingredients, raw materials or products that are of similar
composition and have similar supply chain characteristics. If you are unsure of which materials to include within a group, just start with your best guess. When
using the tool it will soon be clear whether you can include more materials within a group and it is simple to expand the scope after you have started if you want
to do so.

Collect information about the material(s) and use it to answer questions in the worksheets. You do not need all the information on hand to start, you can add or
change the information at any time. Start with your best guess and update your answers as you learn more.

When you have answered all the questions, view and print the results. Section 1 of the results defines the purpose and scope, author, date and review date.
Section 2 of the results contains the vulnerability rating, risk matrix and information about what was considered in the assessment. You can print to paper, print
to pdf or copy and paste the results into a larger document.

Step 1 Perform a ‘Save As’ to create a new copy of this spreadsheet with a new name. Always keep a blank copy on hand for next time.
1 minute
Use one spreadsheet per material or material group. Make a new excel spreadsheet file for each material or material group.

Step 2 Enter some basic information: Go to the Scope Worksheet (click the tab labelled Scope Worksheet at the bottom of your screen or the link to
2 minutes your right) . Type the name of the material you will be assessing, your name and job role and the date into the boxes in the worksheet.
take me to the scope worksheet

Describe the material group, then list the materials which are included in this group, plus their codes if desired.

Step 3a Perform an 'initial screening' (optional): Answer questions about your material on the Initial Screening Worksheet. The answers are used to
(optional) populate a simple risk matrix and create a report that includes purpose, scope and initial screening results.
That's it! View and print or export your initial screening results from the Results section 1 tab at the bottom of your screen. what is an initial screening?
If you only need an initial screening for food fraud, stop here, your work is done.
If you need to do both an initial screening and a full assessment of the same product, they should be saved as two separate files. It is not
possible to create both types of assessment within a single Excel file.

If you are using this tool to create vulnerability assessments for a food safety management system audit, you probably do not need to perform perform an initial screening
an initial screening step.

Step 3 If you are performing a full assessment rather than an initial screening, proceed from the scope worksheet to the likelihood worksheet. Answer
20 minutes questions in the Likelihood Worksheet to estimate the likelihood of food fraud affecting the material. Choose answers from the dropdown lists
provided and add comments if desired. This information will be used to estimate the likelihood of food fraud affecting the material.

If you disagree with the calculated estimate, there is space to add your own instead. The user's estimate always overrides the calculated take me to the Likelihood Worksheet
estimate to produce the final result.

Step 4 Answer questions in the Consequences Worksheet to estimate how severe the consequences would be if food fraud does affect the material.
5 minutes Choose answers from the dropdown lists provided and add comments if desired. This information will be used to determine the severity of the
consequences if food fraud was to affect the material.
take me to the Consequences Worksheet
If you are unsure of an answer, just insert your best guess; you can come back later when you have more information.

Avoid using the excel 'CUT' function in the worksheets. Copy and paste is fine.

Step 5 The answers that were entered in the Likelihood Worksheet and Consequences Worksheet automatically populate a risk matrix that shows the
View results overall vulnerability of the material.

View and print results for the material by going to the Results sheets (click on the tabs at the bottom of your screen). There are two sheets of
results. Section 1 contains purpose, scope and author information. Section 2 contains the risk assessment results, including the risk matrix and Show me the results
the information used to determine the results. These sheets are formatted for printing to paper or pdf for your audit.

Step 6 Optional step: describe actions taken (if any) to prevent, deter, detect or mitigate food fraud for this material.
Optional
If this material requires a control plan to prevent food fraud you may choose to include that plan in this worksheet. The format is quite simple
and will not be suitable for all businesses or for complicated plans. A printable report is created with the information that is entered into the take me to the controls worksheet
Controls Worksheet.

Questions? Got questions?

FAQ (link to website)
Click here for answers to frequently asked questions (FAQ) and to access on-line support.
What next? Now I have a vulnerability assessment. What comes next?
What next?(external link)

Feedback Send us your thoughts using this contact form

… Or post your comments and discuss your results with other users on our Facebook page

Back to Introduction

Initial screening or full assessment?

If you are performing vulnerability assessments to meet the requirements of a food safety management system, there is no need to
perform an initial screening.
 Vulnerability Assessment Tool, Food Fraud Advisors 2017

An initial screening is recommended by food fraud experts because it can be helpful to prioritise food fraud prevention activities.
The initial screening will provide quick results. The results of an initial screening can be used to choose which food ingredients, raw
materials or products most urgently need a full vulnerability assessment. Initial screening results may satisfy the requirements of
some food safety regulations and standards, but will not be sufficient to meet the requirements of GFSI food safety management
system standards.
Back to
Initial screenings are typically conducted on larger groups of foods rather than on individual ingredients or products. For example Instructions
you might choose to screen groups such as locally grown fruit, locally grown grains, imported fruit, imported confectionery, whole
spices or ground spices. It can be helpful to categorise foods for pre-screening by their geographical sources, types of suppliers or
by the form of the food type. Whatever you choose, be sure to provide a description of the group in the scope section.

An initial screening includes a food fraud incident review combined with a consideration of health hazard impacts and financial
impacts of food fraud for the item that is being assessed.

Learn more about initial screening in this 2016 paper by Dr John Spink, Dr Douglas Moyer and Dr Cheri Speier-Pero of Michigan
State University's Food Fraud Initiative:
Spink, et al (2016). Introducing the Food Fraud Initial Screening model (FFIS). Food Control (69), pp306–314.

Initial screening or full assessment?

If you are performing vulnerability assessments to meet the requirements of a food safety management system, there is no need to
perform an initial screening.
Can't see the
dropdown
list? Click and An initial screening is recommended by food fraud experts because it can be helpful to prioritise food fraud prevention activities.
hold the cell The initial screening will provide quick results. The results of an initial screening can be used to choose which food ingredients, raw
and look for materials or products most urgently need a full vulnerability assessment. Initial screening results may satisfy the requirements of
the small grey some food safety regulations and standards, but will not be sufficient to meet the requirements of GFSI food safety management
box that system standards.
appears in the
lower right
corner. Initial screenings are typically conducted on larger groups of foods rather than on individual ingredients or products. For example
you might choose to screen groups such as locally grown fruit, locally grown grains, imported fruit, imported confectionery, whole
Back to Scope
spices or ground spices. It can be helpful to categorise foods for pre-screening by their geographical sources, types of suppliers or worksheet
by the form of the food type. Whatever you choose, be sure to provide a description of the group in the scope section.

An initial screening includes a food fraud incident review combined with a consideration of health hazard impacts and financial
impacts of food fraud for the item that is being assessed.

Learn more about initial screening in this 2016 paper by Dr John Spink, Dr Douglas Moyer and Dr Cheri Speier-Pero of Michigan
State University's Food Fraud Initiative:
Spink, et al (2016). Introducing the Food Fraud Initial Screening model (FFIS). Food Control (69), pp306–314.

Product or ingredient or raw material? Back to Scope

worksheet

Do a product-level assessment if you are not manufacturing or substantially transforming food in your facility, for example if you
are purchasing food products that are ready to be sold as they are, either to consumers or to other businesses. In this case you
would be a food retailer, wholesaler, broker, importer, distributor, restaurant or caterer. Product level assessments are also suitable
for businesses that are repacking products, for example by taking bulk quantities of food items and packing them into smaller
quantities for retail or wholesale customers.

If you are transforming the food items in any way, such as manufacturing then you should do an ingredient assessment on each
of the ingredients or raw materials. Raw materials can include primary packaging and processing aids.
 Vulnerability Assessment Tool, Food Fraud Advisors 2017

Help with likelihood

L3 Size of market Back to

Likelihood
Worksheet
Materials that have markets with large monetary values are those that are traded in very large quantities across many countries or
materials that are very expensive. Tea, coffee, cocoa, sugar all have markets with a large monetary value.

L4 Price

Use the following as a guide for ingredients and raw materials: If the purchase price is more than USD20 per kg or USD20,000 per
metric tonne or EUR18 per kg or 18,000 per metric tonne answer ‘yes very expensive’. If the purchase price is less than EUR600
or USD650 per metric tonne, answer ‘no’.

If you are performing an assessment on a product, the answer should be based on a comparison with other similar or competing
products in the same marketplace.

L6 Trading properties
Back to
Likelihood
Worksheet
Products, ingredients and raw materials that are traded on specific properties are those for which the price is dependent on the
content of water, dairy fat, nitrogen (protein), cocoa solids or some other key component. Answer ‘yes’ here if your business pays a
price that is dependent on a specific property of the food or if your supplier(s) pay a price depends on a property of the food, even if
your business pays a flat rate.

If you are unsure, speak to your purchasing officer.

L7 Geographic origins

Answer ‘yes’ for this question if this product, ingredient or raw material originates in a country that is politically unstable or very poor.
The Global Food Security Index (http://foodsecurityindex.eiu.com/) has specific information about food quality and food safety
issues in 113 countries.

L8 Purchase the full version to unlock this content

L10 Purchase the full version to unlock this content

Back to
Likelihood
Worksheet
L11 Complexity of supply chain

Do you consider the supply chain of this material to be complex and/or long? An example of a short supply chain is wheat flour
purchased directly from a flour mill that processes locally grown wheat. A complex supply chain is one that involves many different
businesses handling, processing, storing and transporting a product and its component parts. Most imported materials have a long
and complex supply chain. Most processed food products have long and complex supply chains.

L12 Ease of access to material

Is the supply chain of a type that allows multiple points of entry for fraudulent material? Entry points for fraudulent materials are
points in the supply chain at which a motivated person could adulterate or dilute the material or substitute an inauthentic material in
its place. These points are most likely to be places where the material is blended, mixed, ground or where it is stored or
transported in a manner that would allow a motivated person to easily gain access to the material.
Back to
Likelihood
L13 Purchase the full version to unlock this content Worksheet

L15 Purchase the full version to unlock this content

L17 Purchase the full version to unlock this content

L21 Supply chain audits

Answer ‘yes all suppliers are audited’ for this question if you know that all the suppliers from whom you purchase this material and Back to
their suppliers are audited by your business or by third parties. Suppliers that have been successfully audited by third parties will Likelihood
have current certificates of conformance to food safety standards; for example they will be ‘BRC certified’ or ‘SQF certified’. Worksheet

L22 Purchase the full version to unlock this content

L24 Routine Testing

A routine authenticity test is a test carried out on a regular, defined basis by your business, a trusted supplier or a third party to
determine whether the material is ‘authentic’. An authentic food or food ingredient is one that is what it is claimed to be. That is, if
the material is claimed to be olive oil, an authenticity test would confirm that the oil has been made from olives; if the material is
claimed to be Spanish olive oil, authenticity testing would check that the chemical profile of the oil matches those of Spanish olives;
if the material is claimed to be virgin Spanish olive oil, the testing would check for the origin, the species and whether the oil is
virgin. If testing has occurred but it is occasional, ad-hoc or one-off then it is not considered routine and you should answer ‘no’ at
this question.
Back to
Likelihood
L25 Purchase the full version to unlock this content Worksheet

L26 Purchase the full version to unlock this content

L27 Likelihood Results

This is an estimate of the likelihood of food fraud affecting this material prior to its receipt into your facility. If you disagree with the
results, progress to the row below (L28) and choose your estimate from the dropdown list. Your estimate will be used for the overall
risk rating. If you agree with the calculated results there is no need to add your own estimate. Back to
Likelihood
Worksheet

Help with consequences

C1 Characterising Ingredient
Back to
Consequences
Worksheet
Characterising ingredients (also called characterising components) are ingredients that define a food product. For example,
chocolate is defined by the fact that it contains cocoa solids. A pie isn't called a 'meat' pie unless it contains meat, so meat is the
characterising ingredient in a meat pie. Mango is a characterising ingredient of mango yoghurt. In some jurisdictions the content of
a characterising ingredient in a food will have to be explicitly stated on the package. Some foods, such as milk, cheese, white
bread, croissant, salmon fillets, rice do not have a characterising ingredient.

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Consequences
Worksheet

C6 Allergen-related claims

Examples: Nut Free, Low in lactose, Contains no soy, No sulphates, Made from corn not wheat, Dairy-free.

Products that are claimed to be free from allergens, either explicitly or implicitly, present a greater risk if they are fraudulently
adulterated. Different jurisdictions have different requirements for allergen claims and allergen warnings as well as different
definitions for common food allergens. Include anything that is relevant to your products and regulatory requirements. Allergen
claims that should be included here are claims that the product is friendly to allergenic or intolerant consumers such as being low-in
or free-from various allergens.
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For the purposes of this question disregard warnings about the presence of allergens such as May contain traces of nuts Consequences
Worksheet
or Manufactured in a facility that also processes soy; these warnings reduce the risk to allergenic consumers, whereas the intention
of this question is to capture claims that increase the risk.
 Vulnerability Assessment Tool, Food Fraud Advisors 2017

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Consequences
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C12 Other economic considerations

Is this material used in a product (or is it a product) that is extremely valuable to your business; is it a flagship brand or product?
Back to
Are there regulatory impacts that could result in large fines or recalls if the product(s) are affected by food fraud? Is the cost of Consequences
recall higher than usual for this product type? Do key customers impose hefty penalties for breaches of authenticity? Would Worksheet
market access be affected if food fraud affected this product?

If you answer 'yes' for this question be sure to describe the economic considerations in the comments section.

C13 Consequences of fraud

The Vulnerability Assessment Tool can help you to understand out how severely your consumers, products, brands and business
would be effected by food fraud. No matter what answer the tool calculates, you, with advice from other experts within the business
should carefully consider the impact/s, including those listed below, and make your own choice. Add your own choice to the row
C14 ‘User rating’. The overall vulnerability rating is determined with the ‘User rating’; if a user rating has been entered it will
override the calculated result.

Possible impacts of food fraud:

Food safety risks: any adulteration, substitution or dilution of an ingredient should be treated as a serious food safety issue as a first
priority. There can be direct food safety risks to consumers from contaminated adulterants, allergenic adulterants or unhygienic
handling of the ingredient during any adulteration or substitution. There can also be an indirect food safety risk to consumers from
adulterants that cause chronic disease, or are carcinogenic or are lacking in nutrients that should be present in an authentic
product.
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Consequences
Loss of consumer trust: problems with your product or product group can be catastrophic for your brand. Worksheet

Indirect risks: adulteration, substitution or dilution of an ingredient indicates a flaw in the traceability of your product, which means
non-compliance with the requirements of food safety standards and regulations.

There are financial risks associated with any incidence of food fraud. If your company has a Risk Officer or an Enterprise Risk
Management Plan the relevant persons should be informed of the results of your vulnerability assessment and consulted about how
to prioritise the prevention and mitigation planning that should be done after each vulnerability assessment.
Prevention, detection and mitigation activities

Enter material name on scope worksheet

Prevention and Deterrence

Describe actions taken to prevent food fraud from affecting this material

Detection

Describe actions taken to detect whether this material has been subject to food fraud

Mitigation
Describe actions taken to mitigate the effects of food fraud if it has occurred (mitigate = to lessen or
make less severe)

Back to Instructions page

View the Controls report

Prepared by Insert your name here

Insert your job title here

Date 9-Sep-19

Review due date 9-Mar-20

Instructions
Using this sheet is optional.
Briefly describe actions in the white boxes. Detailed plans,
programs and monitoring results should be provided in a
separate document.

The words you type here will appear in the Controls report,
which is formatted for printing.

Hint: To start typing on a new line inside the white cell (a

'carriage return'), press the Alt key and Enter key together
 Vulnerability Assessment Tool, Food Fraud Advisors 2017

Prevention, detection and mitigation of food fraud - free trial version

of Food Fraud Advisors' Vulnerability Assessment Tool

Material Enter material name on Scope Worksheet

Company Name Enter company name on Scope Worksheet
Site Site(s) for this assessment
Vulnerability Estimate Low risk

Prepared by Enter your name on the controls worksheet

Enter your job title on the controls worksheet
Date 09-September-2019
Review due date 09-March-2020

Prevention, deterrence, detection and mitigation activities

Insert your company's standard document control features here

 Vulnerability Assessment Tool, Food Fraud Advisors 2017

Prevention, detection and mitigation activities

The information here can be edited by returning to the Controls

worksheet .

The results on this sheet can be printed to paper, exported to pdf or you
can copy and paste the results into a larger document. Be sure to add
document control features including page numbers, document
identification and date or version number.
If you are pasting into an excel document use the 'Paste special' function,
then choose 'values' to avoid copying formulas that will look strange in
the new spreadsheet.

Delete this text box prior to printing.

Insert your company's standard document control features here

Initial screening for food fraud (optional) click
Insert material name on Scope Worksheet this then click on the
cell to arrow that
Back to scope worksheet start appears here

Element Question Help Your

answer
I1 Historic incidents Is this material one Info (link to webpage)
that has been
implicated in
previous incidences
of food fraud?

I2 Emerging Have there been any Info (link to webpage)

concerns recent alerts or news
about food fraud for
this material?

I3 Any other Are there any other

concerns features of this food
type that make it
particularly
susceptible to food
fraud?

I4 Pre-screening An automatically Relatively

likelihood generated likelihood
(calculated) likely
I5 Pre-screening Choose your own
likelihood (user estimate of likelihood
rating) of food fraud
affecting this food
type

Estimating Impact Question Help Your

answer
I6 Health hazards Would food fraud in
this food give rise to
health hazards?

I7 Financial impacts Would food fraud in

this food have
financial impacts on
this business?

I8 Any other impacts Are there any other

significant impacts
that could arise from
food fraud in this
food?
I9 Pre-screening Consequences of Severe impact
consequences substitution or
(impact) adulteration within (calculated)
Calculated supply chain for this
product group

Info
I10 Pre-screening User estimate of Info
consequences consequences
(impact) (optional)
User rating

View your pre-screen results Hint:

and create a report
you must choose 'Initial
screening' in the yellow box on the
scope worksheet or you will not be
able to see your results.
Back to Instructions page
then click on the
arrow that
appears here

Results

This material is relatively like to be

affected by food fraud

Results
Food fraud in this material would
have severe impacts on the
business.
Your Comments Initial screening instructions
Use this worksheet to perform an initial screening for food fraud.
screenings are optional.

You can enter information into the white cells. The coloured cells
be edited.

Read the question in column 3 of the table, then choose an answe

clicking on the cell in column 5 and choosing from the dropdown li
Add comments that support your answer or provide more informa
(optional).
For help with the questions, click on the links in the 'Help' column.

The information in the results column and the comments you ente
reproduced in the printable vulnerability assessment document ('R
section 1'). The information on the results sheet can be changed a
time by returning to this sheet; the printable results pages cannot
edited directly.
Hint: you must choose 'Initial screening' from the dropdown list on
scope worksheet or you will not be able to see your results.

Delete this text box or drag it off-screen if you wish to enter comm

Your Comments
d fraud. Initial

ed cells cannot

n answer by
pdown list.
information

column.

you enter are

ment ('Results
hanged at any
cannot be

wn list on the
s.

er comments.
 Vulnerability Assessment Tool, Food Fraud Advisors 2017

Products containing this ingredient or raw material

Material Name Insert name on scope worksheet

Description of material group

Used in the products listed below

Product names, groups or skus

Add product information

here

Insert your company's standard document control features here

 Vulnerability Assessment Tool, Food Fraud Advisors 2017

Insert your company's standard document control features here

 Vulnerability Assessment Tool, Food Fraud Advisors 2017

Back to Scope worksheet

Instructions

Using this sheet is optional.

If you wish you can use it to create a detailed list of products that contain the
material for which you are doing the vulnerability assessment. This may help you
to answer the questions about consequences.

Add product brands, names and or skus into the yellow boxes.
The information you enter here is not automatically added to the completed
assessment document, but can be printed and appended if desired.

Delete this text box prior to printing.

Insert your company's standard document control features here