What is food fraud
If you suspect a food-related fraud or scam in Helsinki, you can report your observations to the food control authority.
Food fraud is an activity that breaks the law and from which the operator derives financial gain. The activity is intentional and the consumer is misled or deceived.
Examples of fraudulent activities include:
- making false declarations of the ingredients’ country of origin
- providing false dates (the best before date or expiry date has been altered on labels or in documents)
- making false declarations of ingredients (e.g. a different type of meat is used than what is declared on the labelling, menu or website)
- covering up product defects or faults
- providing false or suspicious information orally.
Food fraud does not mean that the staff of a restaurant do not wear protective gloves or that the operations are unhygienic, for example. These issues are monitored through Oiva inspections as part of regular food control operations.
Report your food fraud suspicion
Report your findings as accurately as possible. What, where, when, who? Why do you suspect that the activity is fraudulent? You do not have to know everything; a single observation is enough. You can attach photos or video footage to your message.
Reporting suspected fraud is confidential. The Food Act (Section 81) grants the notifier protection of anonymity if the notification may cause them harm. However, we would like you to provide us with your contact details when you report your findings so that we can ask you for more information about your observations.
Report your suspicion of fraud by email: kymp.elintarviketurvallisuus@hel.fi(Link opens default mail program)
You can also report your suspicion by secure email. Go to the secure email service(Link leads to external service)
Contact details
If you have any questions about food fraud, you can contact the food control authority by email at kymp.elintarviketurvallisuus@hel.fi(Link opens default mail program) .