"Food fraud is a threat to all producers and consumers," Prof Russell Frew, of the University of Otago chemistry department, said.
Prof Frew, director of the department's Isotrace Research laboratory, is also a consultant to a new United Nations-backed food-traceability project to protect high-value foods.
Making countries aware of the value of stable isotope technology for tracing the origin of foods and harmonising the food tracing methods used by the respective countries led to acceptance by consumers and lower barriers to trade.
"The ultimate goal is enhanced trade and consumer confidence," he said.
"New Zealand, as a producer of high-quality food products, stands to gain most as others perform better," he said.
Prof Frew worked previously at the Food and Environmental Protection Laboratory in Austria, where he helped to develop the stable isotope method to test for authenticity in manuka honey.
"It is reported that there is about six times as much manuka consumed as is produced," he said.
The honey boasts natural anti-microbial properties and can fetch up to$1000 per kilogram.
Prof Frew is also the lead country co-ordinator for a UN-backed Asia-Pacific regional programme to promote traceability of foods among 19 countries.
More than 20 people from Asia-Pacific countries were trained at the Otago department last year at the start of a four-year scheme, supported by the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency and the Food and Agricultural Organisation to promote food traceability.
The second international programme, that has just started, aims to protect high-quality food exports from 16 countries, including China, Malaysia, Myanmar, Indonesia, Thailand, and New Zealand, which are also in the first programme.
The latest programme also includes other nations from South and Central America and Eastern Europe.
