Crackdown on counterfeiters as fake foods market grows

There has been an "exponential increase" in the number of fake food products over the last five years, according to the Patent Office and anti-counterfeiting groups.

The Patent Office, which has just launched an intellectual property crime group, is co-ordinating a series of working parties to tackle the problem in manufacturing, distribution chains and sales and marketing, said the head of enforcement, Phil Lewis.

More sophisticated printing technology has made faking food packaging "easier and cheaper than it has ever been", with everything from teabags to instant coffee and alcohol legitimate targets, he claimed.

"It's hard to give accurate figures, though, because we still don't understand the true extent of the problem."

Ruth Orchard, director general of the international industry body the Anti-Counterfeiting Group, said that low-value, high-volume products were increasingly being targeted as the traditional victims -- manufacturers of luxury goods -- stepped up security measures to protect their wares.

"You wouldn't believe the amount of food that's faked," she said. "It's low risk and high profit. Counterfeiters also know that if you're selling baked beans, margins are so low that it's not viable to invest in expensive technology to authenticate your products. It's particularly worrying because of the potential public health risk, aside from the damage that it can do to a brand."

Her comments came as the G8 industrialised nations agreed to convene a meeting of experts in the autumn to tackle intellectual property theft and the European Commission, which said that counterfeit goods represented 3-9% of world trade, promised tougher anti-counterfeiting measures.