NEWS EXTRA


loop, forced to absorb the financial loss of a premium, high-value item, such as a bespoke celebration cake or a luxury selection box, without ever having the opportunity to physically inspect the returned product or verify the legitimacy of the image.


2. Fabricated Foreign Body and Under- Baking Claims In industrial baking, strict Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) protocols are designed to eliminate physical hazards. X-ray machines, optical sorters, and high- sensitivity metal detectors protect the production line. Yet, an AI image can instantly bypass these defences in the court of public opinion. “There have been instances where we’ve


seen AI manipulation of images relating to foreign bodies,” notes Alasdair Dean, AI Lead at Food Alert. “We do think this is likely to increase, and we are aware that third- party aggregators reportedly receive a lot of suspicious complaints of this nature.” For a bakery, a convincing AI-rendered


photograph showing a sharp shard of glass embedded in a brioche bun, or an unbaked, raw dough centre inside a commercial batch of croissants, is damaging. Even if the internal batch logs prove that bake times,


STATISTICS COMPILED BY


FOOD ALERT FROM A REPORT BY AI GENERATOR MARKET


REVEALED THAT MORE THAN 34 MILLION AI-GENERATED IMAGES ARE PRODUCED GLOBALLY EVERY DAY


oven temperatures, and metal detectors were operating perfectly, proving a negative against a visually flawless digital fabrication is an uphill battle for any QA team. The threat extends far beyond clever


photo editing. Food Alert’s technical team has identified a surge in what they term “AI- written intimidation tactics.” In the past, fraudulent or opportunistic


complaints were generally easy for customer service teams to spot. They were often brief, emotionally driven, and riddled with informal language or poor grammar. Today, consumers


are using advanced Large Language Models (LLMs) to write their grievances. By entering a prompt such as “Write a highly severe legal complaint email to a bakery because I found a metal washer in their product,” a fraudulent claimant can instantly generate an authoritative, multi-page document. These AI-crafted communications are


intentionally designed to intimidate business owners. They come meticulously formatted, utilising complex legal terminology, citing specific pieces of UK food safety legislation (such as the Food Safety Act 1990 or the Food Safety and Hygiene Regulations), and threatening immediate escalation to enforcement authorities, trade bodies, and national media outlets. “A bigger trend for us is the use of AI to intimidate our food business clients and us in relation to food complaints,” explains Annabel Kyle, Technical Director at Food Alert. “For example, if a guest disagrees with the outcome of their complaint, we will often receive an email that is clearly written with AI, quoting legislation and stating they will be reporting the matter to enforcement authorities, government agencies, legal representatives, and so on.” For an independent bakery owner, a small


retail chain, or even a busy site manager at a manufacturing facility, receiving an email of


JUNE 2026 • KENNEDY’S CONFECTION • 13


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