The FDA has expended so much energy attempting to protect the safety of our nation's food supply, they've taken their eyes off another potential problem that may harm your health: Food fraud.

Before you start worrying about a Soylent Green scenario, what we're talking about here is producers selling foods that aren't exactly what they claim to be. For example, a cheaper catfish fillet being sold as more expensive red snapper at your local supermarket, or a diluted product -- corn syrup or sugar beets added to honey -- even though it's advertised as 100 percent pure.

Food fraud can be pretty easy to spot, if you're looking for it and paying attention. Just ask a pair of New York City high school students who worked in tandem with scientists using high-tech tools like isotope ratio analysis to analyze the DNA composition of foods purchased randomly in Manhattan to verify their true composition. Eleven of the 66 products they tested last year, among them sheep's milk cheese, were "mislabeled."

Even worse, one Michigan State University expert estimates at least 5-7 percent of our nation's current food supply is affected by fraud. Ugh!

Let's hope Congress adds stronger oversight on food fraud in the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act that could reach President Obama's desk -- after nearly a year of delays -- by May.

Washington Post March 30, 2010