Cheaters Shouldn't Prosper and Consumers Shouldn't Suffer: The Need for Government Enforcement Against Economic Adulteration of 100% Pomegranate Juice and Other Imported Food Products

In the modern global food system - marked by the trade flow of a variety of food products and ingredients from multiple locations in the world - economically motivated adulteration has emerged as a growing menace that threatens the health and wellbeing of consumers, the economic livelihoods of honest purveyors of food in the global marketplace, and the integrity and viability of national food regulatory systems. Economic adulteration is a form of cheating that includes the padding, diluting, and substituting of food product. Although this cheating is rooted in past food systems, the new paradigm for economic adulteration - a vast international food-trade system - increases the level of fraud, especially for imported premium products that are susceptible to fakery, such as olive oil, honey, supplements, and pomegranate juice.