Dublin conference aims to tackle food fraud

Fish, meat, olive oil and alcohol are some of the most common items that are investigated for food fraud.

Cases have more than doubled in the past two years rising from 60 in 2014 to 156 in 2016.

A major conference is underway in Dublin exploring ways to tackle food crime - with a major crackdown since the horsemeat scandal.

Europol's Berangere Dreno advised consumers to be careful where they buy their produce.

"Don't buy into the bargains that are too good to be true - when it is too good to be true, it generally is not true," she said.

National and international experts outlined that combatting increasing levels of food fraud requires inter-agency collaboration and intelligence-led insights to protect the food chain and ultimately consumer interests and health.