Brits want food and drink firms to be more transparent about fraud incidents in their supply chain, new research suggests.
Most (64%) UK consumers would expect businesses to inform the authorities of any fraud incident that might cause a health risk, according to an Ipsos Mori poll of 1,129 adults aged 16-75 in the UK commissioned by accountancy firm Crowe Clark Whitehill.
Over a third (41%) of those surveyed agreed businesses should inform regulators as soon as they have suspicions of fraud in their operations or supply chain, even if they have no evidence.
Consumers also want more transparency around incidents that could pose a financial risk, it found.
Half (49%) of those surveyed said they would expect a business to inform authorities of any incident that might cause a financial loss to a customer or member of the public, while over a third (35%) would expect information to be shared about any incident that might cause a financial loss to the business affected or any another business.
For most incidents, consumers agreed food and drink businesses should share all available information with regulators - including the details of the product, organisations, and individuals involved.
Most of those surveyed (80%) said they would expect businesses to be monitoring the types of fraud incidents affecting their business, and 78% said food and drink firms should help raise awareness of the whistleblowing hotlines set up by the National Food Crime Unit and Scottish Food Crime.
“The research highlights the gulf between what consumers expect and what the food industry is currently doing,” said Eoghan Daly, senior manager of Forensic and Counter Fraud Services at Crowe Clark Whitehill LLP.
“To address consumers’ concerns, food businesses should acknowledge that fraud is an issue that affects every business, and be upfront about what they are doing to counter it.”
Telling consumers about potential frauds that had been identified and prevented would serve to highlight the “good work” being done by industry to tackle the issues, Daly suggested.
“Pretending the issue has gone away and is no longer affecting the sector undermines consumer trust,” he added.
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