Alchemy Systems and the U.S. Pharmacopeial Convention (U.S.P.), Rockville, Md., have entered into a partnership to help food companies assess the risk of economic adulteration within the supply chain. The risk assessment tool uses U.S.P.’s Food Fraud Database as a resource to identify which ingredients have a known history of adulterations.

“Food companies have struggled to keep up with food adulteration risks inherent in an increasingly global ingredient supply,” said Jeff Eastman, chief executive officer of Alchemy. “We are delighted to combine Alchemy’s Food Fraud Risk Assessment and Mitigation services with U.S.P.’s Food Fraud Database and food fraud expertise so that companies can better protect their supply chains, meet regulations and safeguard their brands.”

The Food Fraud Database features incident reports, inference reports, surveillance records and analytical methods. U.S.P. personnel search, compile, and perform quality control checks on data gathered daily from scientific literature, media, regulatory and judicial records and trade associations from around the world. The U.S.P.’s Food Fraud Mitigation Guidance provides a framework to assess ingredient vulnerability, the associated risk, and develop food fraud mitigation plans.

The U.S.P. launched an updated version of its Food Fraud Database this past August. The new version provides hazard reports on specific adulterants, making it easier for manufacturers and customers to quickly identify ingredients with a known history of adulteration, according to the group.

“The main goal of the program is to make people more aware to economic adulteration,” Mr. Eastman said Feb. 28, during an interview at the Global Food Safety Conference in Houston.

The collaboration between Alchemy and U.S.P. came at the same time as the Global Food Safety Initiative’s release of its version 7 Benchmarking requirements (formerly known as the G.F.S.I. Guidance document). New to version 7 is an emphasis on fighting food fraud.

“We’ve learned industry is taking this very seriously,” said Willem (Bill) Folkerts, vice-president of strategic marketing and program operations for the U.S.P.’s Food Science unit. “There are new and different approaches to fraud in the supply chain and these are complex issues.”

based in Austin, Alchemy Systems helps companies in food manufacturing, retail and food service train their workforce to improve safety and productivity.