Good Supply A "War Story" Where Internal Control Failed Essay Example

One of the current internal control failures in the hospitality industry is the case of the food fraud. According to Johnson (1), Food Fraud is the scenario where food consumers are deliberately provided with food that contains substitute, tempered, additional, of misrepresented food ingredients. Some of the commonly known cases of food fraud include spices, wine, olive oil, and tea. This kind of control failure is enhanced by the pursuit of the economic gain from producing food substances that contain cheaper ingredients. However, this deliberate action does not only cause economic loss, but all tarnishing of the company’s reputation. The estimates indicate that the hospitality industry is anticipated to lose around $15 billion per year.
One of the latest case of food fraud is the horsemeat scandal that was perceived as organized crime in the supply channel. The Findus beef lasagna was found to have horsemeat that was sourced from Luxembourg that is owned by Comigel, a French food supplier. Although the company president claimed that the company was not aware of the horsemeat supplements, this was because of internal control failure. The company did not have an effective system or personnel to identify quickly such a fraud before selling their product to their consumers.
In my opinion, the companies need to enhance their commitment and hurdling of fraudulent practices by enhancing preventive measures. First, such company need to assess and evaluate the entire supply chain through the critical control points. Second, the company should consider employing workers who adhere to the business ethics. The personnel in the supply chain should be accountable for the goods and product entering and leaving the company. Third, the company should regularly and continuously evaluate the entire supply chain to ensure that there are no vulnerabilities for such a crime. Finally, the company should consider regulatory and operational compliance to food safety and provide the compliance documentation to the regulators. This is aimed to ensure the safety of the food products that enter and leave the company premises.

Works Cited

Castella, Tom, and Brian Wheeler. "Horsemeat Scandal: How Often Does Food Fraud Happen?" BBC News. BBC News Magazine, 11 Feb. 2013. Web. 24 Apr. 2015. <http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-21381689>.
Johnson, Renée. "Food fraud and “Economically Motivated Adulteration” of food and food ingredients." Vols. 7–5700, R43358, pp. 1–40). Washington, DC: Library of Congress. 2014.