Sand-Sized Microchips Take on Fake Foods and Drugs

Labels on your grocery store products might say “Spanish extra-virgin olive oil” or “New Zealand grass-fed beef,” but these are just words. How can such broad claims ever be verified? Food fraud—things like additives, dilutions, mislabeling, and substitution—affects over 1 percent of the global food industry, according to studies cited by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and can cost as much as $40 billion a year.