John Spink
Assistant Professor of Food Safety | Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI, UNITED STATES
Expert in food fraud and safety.
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Biography
John Spink has been focused on product fraud and food safety since Michigan State University began research on the topic in 2006.
His work has expanded to the behavioral sciences and criminology and led to the establishment of the Anti-Counterfeiting and Product Protection Initiative in 2008.
He can speak to specific fraud incidents such as beef containing horse meat, as well as investigating anti-counterfeiting strategies and outreach.
Industry Expertise (2)
Education/Learning
Research
Areas of Expertise (2)
Food Fraud
Food Safety
Education (2)
Michigan State University: Ph.D., Packaging
Michigan State University: M.S., Packaging
Links (2)
News (5)
Subway uses lab tests to try to show its chicken isn't soy
Forbes online
2017-03-13
For example, as John Spink, Ph.D., who leads to Food Fraud Initiative and is an assistant professor at Michigan State University, explained, "Human hair and other contaminants that could have been introduced after the chicken was shipped to the Subway restaurants could have thrown off the results.
Counterfeit cuisine? How food fraud can get into your kitchen
ABC online
2017-02-23
"It could be 10 percent of the entire U.S. food supply is fraudulent one way or another," said John Spink, Ph.D., director of the Food Fraud Initiative at Michigan State University.
Food fraud hurts your wallet and makes you sick
CNBC
2016-11-19
"The thing with food fraud is we don't know what's in there and we don't know what the processes is the bad guys used, the criminals, the fraudsters used to manufacture the product," John Spink, the director of Michigan State University Food Fraud Initiative told CNBC's On The Money in a recent interview. "So, there is always a vulnerability even if there is not an actual threat."...
Fighting against counterfeit medicine
MSU Today online
2016-04-25
Around the world, especially in developing nations, counterfeit medicines are a real problem. Until now, in many countries there hasn’t been a standard protocol to conduct investigations and pursue prosecution. New research, led by Michigan State University and featured in the current issue of the Journal of Forensic Science and Criminology, is providing the foundation to apply criminology theory to preventing the production and sale of fake and substandard medicines. “Our paper provides real-world application of well-respected criminology theory, which is typically unconventional for public health professionals,” said John Spink, director of the College of Veterinary Medicine’s Food Fraud Initiative, and lead author on the paper. “While there should be more research before reaching additional conclusions, a country’s willingness to combat counterfeit and sub-standard medicines may be an indicator of modernization and the stabilizing of a country.”
MSU leads the world's efforts to prevent food fraud
MSU Today
2015-12-15
“Our article is a translation by experts in their countries and includes an interpretation to address the emerging issue in their country,” said John Spink, director of MSU’s Food Fraud Initiative, and co-author on the paper. “The co-authors are champions for food fraud prevention around the world.”...
Journal Articles (5)
The economics of a food fraud incident–Case studies and examples including Melamine in Wheat Gluten
Food Control2017 Food Fraud can be an extremely profitable act even considering the capital investment of executing a complex and technologically challenging activity. This research was conducted to increase awareness of the economic motivation of Food Fraud through case studies that include commodity and finished goods pricing. The research objective was to establish a firm understanding of the economic drivers of Food Fraud. Examples provide insight on the macro-and micro-economic influences on the fraud opportunity...
Introducing the Food Fraud Initial Screening model (FFIS)
Food Control2016 Food Fraud is illegal deception for economic gain using food. There are many types of fraud including adulterant-substances, tampering, theft, diversion and gray marketing, simulations, misbranded, and intellectual property rights product counterfeiting. The concept is beginning to be addressed by laws, regulations, standards, and certifications. Regardless of the presence of an actual health hazard, Food Fraud incidents can: negatively impact sales, brand equity, market capitalization; violate regulations such as Sarbanes-Oxley; ...
Development and application of a database of food ingredient fraud and economically motivated adulteration from 1980 to 2010
Journal of Food Science2012 Food ingredient fraud and economically motivated adulteration are emerging risks, but a comprehensive compilation of information about known problematic ingredients and detection methods does not currently exist. The objectives of this research were to collect such information from publicly available articles in scholarly journals and general media, organize into a database, and review and analyze the data to identify trends.
Defining the public health threat of food fraud
Journal of Food Science2011 Food fraud, including the more defined subcategory of economically motivated adulteration, is a food risk that is gaining recognition and concern. Regardless of the cause of the food risk, adulteration of food is both an industry and a government responsibility. Food safety, food fraud, and food defense incidents can create adulteration of food with public health threats.
Review of package warning labels and their effect on consumer behaviour with insights to future anticounterfeit strategy of label and communication systems
Packaging Technology and Science2011 This paper investigates and reviews literature regarding a range of topics important to the research question–the themes apply across all the topics. The topics include label and package warnings, including tamper-evident features, to review their effect on the consumer behaviour of changing usage or purchase decisions. This information was then applied to gain insight into anticounterfeit product/package efforts.
