Each year, food fraud is estimated at more than US $50 billion. Customers are cheated, reputable producers lose sales and reputations, and dishonest traders are rewarded. Maintaining confidence and trust in the food supply is therefore a high priority for both food producers and consumers. Isotopes can help provide the verification missing in existing paper-trail certification processes. Isotope ratios, though subtle, vary according to where, how and under what environmental conditions a food was produced.