https://onlinesciencepublishing.com/index.php/ajssh <p>2520-5382</p> Online Science Publishing en-US American Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities 2520-5382 https://onlinesciencepublishing.com/index.php/ajssh/article/view/1830 <p>Food crime refers to a broad array of illegal, harmful, and unethical activities embedded within the global food system. The topic has only recently gained traction as a subject of criminological inquiry. This article provides an introductory review of the concept of food crime, clarifies its relationship to adjacent constructs such as food fraud and food safety, and synthesizes recent empirical literature. The paper provides definitions of food crime, taxonomies of food crime, and reviews recent research into food fraud and adulteration, organized crime in the food sector, labor exploitation and food supply chain abuses, environmental harms of industrial food production, and harms associated with foods we eat. The paper also addresses food insecurity, inequality, and corporate power, illustrating the specific ways corporations are culpable for food crimes. Different theoretical approaches taken in the food crime literature are addressed, including Green Criminology, Nutritional Criminology, and Zemiology. The global nature of food crime is addressed, and future directions in the field are assessed. The review identifies definitional ambiguity, the centrality of economic motivations, the criminogenic nature of globalized supply chains, and the underdevelopment of empirical research as key themes. Overall, the article is meant as a thorough yet brief introduction to the topic of food crime in order to inform readers and spur further research.</p> Matthew Robinson Copyright (c) 2026 2026-05-21 2026-05-21 11 2 1 16 10.55284/ajssh.v11i2.1830