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This review (purchase required,$USD 31.50)  critically evaluates the comparative analytical performance, operational failure modes, and regulatory integration requirements of each technology for food fraud control.  The authors assert that rapid DNA-based methods — including polymerase chain reaction (PCR), DNA barcoding, next-generation sequencing (NGS), and CRISPR-Cas diagnostics — have emerged as transformative analytical tools for food fraud control, offering high specificity, applicability to processed matrices, and increasing compatibility with decentralized deployment. Artificial intelligence (AI) further enhances these platforms by enabling automated pattern recognition, fraud risk inference, and intelligence-driven surveillance.  

Rather than describing individual technologies in isolation, the authors have set out to give a structured comparative analysis of detection performance across real-world food control conditions, including matrix effects, DNA degradation, and database limitations.  They also propose an evidence-based technology selection framework aligned with regulatory enforcement objectives.  Finally, they analyse specific standardization and legislative gaps that currently limit operational deployment.

Key findings indicate that CRISPR-Cas assays show the greatest promise for rapid field screening but lacks ISO/AOAC validation; NGS is essential for unknown adulterant discovery but requires bioinformatic standardization; and AI provides the critical decision-support layer for proactive, risk-based surveillance. The authors conclude that these findings are directly relevant to food safety management system design, official method selection, and international regulatory harmonization efforts

EFF-CoP Summer Update: Collaboration, Knowledge and New Voices

Summer may traditionally be a quieter period, but July and August 2026 remained active months for the  EFF-CoP. From collaborative events and Living Lab outcomes to new expert voices and resources, the project continued bringing together the food fraud community and sharing knowledge across Europe.

Joining forces for food system security

On 3 July 2026, EFF-CoP joined SecureFood, ACT4FOOD and DEFENSEFOOD for the joint webinar “Advancing Food System Security: Innovations, Tools and Collaborative Strategies.” The webinar brought together expertise from different European initiatives addressing food security, food safety and resilience. It provided an opportunity to exchange knowledge, identify synergies and demonstrate the importance of collaboration when responding to the increasingly complex challenges affecting European food systems.

From discussion to co-innovation: the first EFF-CoP Living Lab

The summer also provided an opportunity to share the outcomes of the 1st Social Co-Innovation Living Lab, organised by REZOS at the University of Patras, Greece, on 29–30 June 2026. Using a participatory and community-based approach, stakeholders worked together to identify real-world food fraud challenges, map relevant actors, assess potential impacts across the food chain and propose possible solutions and capacity-building needs.The outcomes from the two working groups, complemented by feedback from consortium partners, have now been brought together in a dedicated report. The results provide valuable insights into how collaborative approaches can contribute to identifying priorities and strengthening the capacity of the food fraud community. The full document with the Living Lab results is available HERE.

Catching up with EFF-CoP

July also saw the publication of the third EFF-CoP Newsletter, bringing together the project's main developments from January to June 2026. Among the highlights was the 1st Authentic Food Fraud Festival & Conference, held in Dublin on 27–28 May. The event welcomed around 130 participants from 18 countries, alongside 45 speakers and moderators, 25 posters and 80 volunteers, combining scientific exchange with creative and interactive approaches to discussing food fraud. Meanwhile, the EFF-CoP community continues to grow. By July 2026, the project's social media channels had reached more than 4,400 followers.

Bringing consortium voices into the conversation

EFF-CoP also launched a series of short interviews during the summer, putting the spotlight on the people behind EFF-CoP. Through short and accessible conversations, researchers and professionals are invited to share their expertise, experiences and perspectives on food authenticity and fraud prevention.

Looking ahead

As summer has come to an end, EFF-CoP is already looking towards its next activities.

On 7 September 2026, a new stakeholder survey on food fraud macro-scenarios was launched. The survey will invite stakeholders to provide feedback that will help shape the project's scientific research agenda, identifying key research and innovation needs for addressing the evolving food fraud landscape over the next ten years. The results will also contribute to the development of the EFF-CoP White Paper.

After an active summer, EFF-CoP enters the new season with the same goal at its heart: connecting people, sharing knowledge and strengthening collaboration to better understand, prevent and address food fraud across Europe.

This update has also been added to FAN's EFF-CoP page.

What will the food fraud landscape look like over the next ten years, and what research and innovation will we need to stay ahead of emerging threats?

Food fraud is constantly evolving in response to changes in global food systems, technology, supply chains, economic pressures, climate-related challenges and emerging risks. Understanding how these developments could shape food fraud over the next decade is essential for identifying where future research and innovation efforts should be focused.

The EFF-CoP project is inviting stakeholders to share their views through a new survey developed by FAN as part of Work Package 2 (needs of EFF-CoP and future research agenda).

The survey explores the relevance and potential application of food fraud scenarios developed by the project.

Why your contribution matters

By participating, stakeholders can directly contribute their knowledge and experience and help steer the future direction of food fraud research in Europe and worldwide.

Whether you work in research, the food industry, official controls, laboratories, policy, technology, consumer organisations or another area related to food authenticity and food fraud prevention, your perspective can help us better understand the challenges ahead.

The feedback collected through this survey will help assess the relevance and potential application of the food fraud scenarios developed by the project and inform the development of a White Paper setting out a future research agenda for better food fraud prevention.

The survey comprises just 8 questions and should take only a few minutes to complete. It will remain open until 09:00 BST on          5 October 2026:

https://forms.cloud.microsoft/e/maQW7WgEih?origin=lprLink

Your experience matters. Together, we can help ensure that future research and innovation address the real and emerging needs of the community.

Thank you,

FAN EFF-CoP Project Team

An investigation in the Naples area of Italy (see publication here – open access) found multiple compliance, hygiene, labelling and food safety issues with imported foods on sale in retailers supplying ethnic communities;  primarily Pakistani, Ukrainian, Filipino, and Chinese shops.  The researchers conclude that there is evidence of deliberate, widespread and systematic avoidance of EU import controls, with implications much wider than just the local area sampled.  Products of animal origin and other high-risk foods were a particular concern, along with unlabelled allergens.  Evidence collected during the Naples investigation suggested that the retailers are the endpoints of a broader illicit distribution network rather than being the primary importers. Investigators found rolls and bundles of adhesive labels stored with packaged products, including inside cartons, supporting the researchers' hypothesis that illicit products and false labelling materials were supplied together, with labels subsequently applied at the point of retail.

The researchers, particularly, recommend the improved use of AI by regulators to match local-language retail labels against the imported originals (e.g. in Chinese language) to spot anomalies and absence of mandatory information.

Port wines attract a price premium dependent on their age and variety.  In this study (open access) the authors built an FT-IR model to differentiate Colheita, Tawny, Vintage, and Late Bottled Vintage ports by variety and by age.

The authors relate the differences in spectral signatures back to different oxidation conditions and temperatures during the port’s production and maturation, and discuss the chemical changes such as Strecker degradation, Maillard-type pathways, and the formation of furanic compounds derived from sugar degradation, and show that the consequential spectral changes can be predictable with age.

The authors analysed a data set of 7281 spectra from the four commercial categories using classical chemometric methods and machine learning models.

They found that for category classification, a support vector machine with a radial basis function kernel gave the best performance. For age prediction, a deep ensemble model achieved an R² value of 0.9803 and a mean absolute error of 1.25 years. A hybrid two-stage random forest model, designed to account for category-specific aging regimes, achieved comparable performance, with an R² of 0.9630 and a mean absolute error of 1.28 years, while requiring lower computational resources. Leverage-based prediction intervals provided per-sample uncertainty estimates with a 97.7% empirical coverage.

Feature importance analysis identified three main spectral regions, around 1740, 1050, and 1600–1450 cm^–1.  These features could be related back to known chemical pathways occurring during Port wine aging.

They conclude that the results demonstrate that FT-IR spectroscopy, combined with appropriate modeling strategies, can support rapid, nondestructive, and scalable estimation of Port wine age, offering a promising complementary tool for certification and authenticity control.

Photo by Irene Kredenets on Unsplash

fiin’s Q2 2026 Commodity Watchlist is now live on the Hub.

Food fraud risk continues to evolve. While Q1 was dominated by energy security, geopolitical instability, and fertiliser costs, Q2 sees water scarcity and drought move to the forefront, with impacts across agriculture, fisheries, supply chains and logistics.

The latest watchlist draws on more than 12,000 test results submitted by 75 fiin members, covering products from 62 countries of origin, alongside horizon scanning intelligence from our Technical Steering Group.

Key themes this quarter include:

• Climate, drought and water pressures
• Geopolitical and trade disruption
• Changing supply chains and sourcing
• Animal disease and biosecurity
• Authenticity, provenance and documentation

Access the SME Hub here to explore the latest insights by commodity.

All SME Hub content is free to use, so please feel free to share it with your wider networks.

Cell Cultivated Products (CCPs) represent an emerging class of novel foods produced through the culture and differentiation of animal or plant cells which includes cells from meat, seafood, fat and offal, offering potential benefits in sustainability, animal welfare, and food system resilience. As these products progress toward commercialisation, there is a growing need to understand how analytical methods can be applied to verify their authenticity, detect adulteration, and support effective regulatory oversight.

This project funded by the Food Standards Agency and delivered by LGC, focused on animal-derived CCPs, providing a comprehensive landscape review of current and emerging analytical methods with potential applicability to CCP detection and traceability, combined with an extensive programme of stakeholder engagement across industry, government, academia and the analytical community.

The review highlighted that no single analytical approach is currently sufficient to characterise or authenticate CCPs due to their inherent variability, evolving production methods, and similarity to conventional meat. Instead, a weight of evidence (WoE) framework drawing on genomics, proteomics, chromatography, spectroscopy, structural analysis and digital tools shows the greatest promise for analytical detection of CCPs. The work also identified major challenges including a lack of validated methods, limited reference materials, confidentiality barriers, and cost or accessibility constraints, which currently hinder the development of robust analytical testing strategies.

Stakeholder insights reaffirmed the need for harmonised standards, inter-laboratory studies, well-characterised datasets, and rapid, cost-effective screening tools to complement advanced laboratory methods. The project concluded that early establishment of metrological principles, traceability systems, regulatory clarity, and strong collaboration across sectors will be essential to maintain consumer confidence and ensure CCP integrity as the market expands. In order of priority, this report recommended further work be conducted on weight of evidence approaches, digital barcoding, epigenetics and microbial profiling, as approaches which may have the greatest potential for analytical CCP traceability. Overall, this work provided an evidence-based foundation to guide future method development, support regulatory preparedness, and inform a coherent national approach to CCP authenticity testing.

Read full report: https://doi.org/10.46756/001c.167297

This report will be added to the FAN Research Finder.

In this study, (open access) an extraction-free loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) assay with a visual colorimetric readout was developed for rapid and on-site identification of pork. The reaction conditions were first optimized using purified DNA to minimize matrix interference, during which a COI-targeting primer set was selected and analytical sensitivity determined.

 For direct tissue analysis, a simple toothpick sampling approach was introduced. A sterile bamboo toothpick was inserted into the tissue sample and gently probed five times to collect material. The toothpick tip was then inserted vertically into a pre-aliquoted LAMP master mix and rotated for 10 s to release sample contents.

Tris-HCl buffer (1.5 M, pH 8.8) was incorporated to counteract matrix acidity and stabilize color development of the pH-sensitive indicator. This enabled clear color differentiation under daylight without the need for UV illumination.

The authors report that, using this toothpick sampling method, pork adulteration as low as 0.05% (w/w) was detected within 20 min requiring no specialized instrumentation. Validation with 20 commercial meat products demonstrated complete agreement between LAMP results, qPCR, and Sanger sequencing, confirming the robustness and practical suitability of this assay for field authentication of pork adulteration.

For an explanation of LAMP, see our Analytical Explainers pages.

Photo by Ric Matkowski on Unsplash

In this paper (purchase required, GBP £29.95) the authors present a biosensing platform termed one-pot TLAMP-PfAgo assay (OTPA) that integrates the rapid amplification of turn-back loop primer-accelerated loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) (TLAMP) with the sequence-specific detection of Pyrococcus furiosus Argonaute (PfAgo).

They report that this system features a novel heat-activatable design using microcrystalline wax to spatially separate reactions within a single tube, enabling contamination-free and streamlined operation. The OTPA assay achieves sensitive and specific detection, with limits of detection as low as 3×10⁻⁴ ng/µL for pork DNA and 2×10⁻⁴ ng/µL for beef DNA within 30 minutes. It successfully enables duplex target identification and has been validated with commercial meat products, showing concordance with standard polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based qualitative detection.

The result can be directly visualized under blue light

They conclude that this is a  cost-effective and simple platform for point-of-use testing.

For an explanation of LAMP principles, see also FAN’s Analytical Explainers pages.

Cargo theft, on a large and highly organised scale, is one of the current food fraud watchouts around the world.  The risk has been highlighted by regulatory authorities including the National Food Crime Unit in the UK.

Recent examples have been as simple as hijacked lorries, or as sophisticated as fake company details and documentation used to collect consignments from despatch centres.  There has been at least one example of corrupt insiders (employees of the victim company) falsifying or hiding records in order to despatch consignments to criminal collaborators.

In the latest example, a truck carrying 40,000 pounds of Pabst Blue Ribbon beer was stolen from a distribution centre in Montclair, California.  Thanks to FAN member, and advisory board member, Quincy Lissaur, for highlighting this story.  You can read one of the many media reports here.

General mitigation advice includes looking with a critical eye at despatch and commercial orders documentation for signs of forgeries, and double-checking the company history of any new or unexpected delivery contractors.

Photo by MOHD FADZILLAH SULAIMAN on Unsplash

The latest consultation period on Codex’s draft food fraud guidelines closed at the end of August, and it now seems likely that they will be published without substantive change.

At its core is a definition of food fraud.  Wordsmithing a definition via an International Committee deliberating for 8 years may seem like overkill, particularly when most jurisdictions have well defined laws against fraud which will cover any fraud that happens to involve food.  But an internationally-agreed food fraud definition helps to standardise, and strengthen, both enforcement and sanctions around the world, and facilitates international trade in food.

The proposed Codex definition is

•  ““Any deliberate practice intended to deceive others in regard to the characteristics of food to gain an unfair economic advantage.”.

( For other accepted definitions see FAN’s “definitions” page.). 

Codex have clarified that their definition includes feed for food-producing animals.  It is unclear if it includes other inputs such as fertilisers or pesticides.

Once these “Guidelines on the Prevention and Control of Food Fraud” are published, Codex intends to move on to more detail such as test method recommendations

For an assessment of the Codex consultation process, key responses, and the utility of the draft guidelines see the Food Fraud Prevention Blog from FAN member, and Advisory Board member, Professor John Spink (the Codex text is available on their “Online Commenting System” which requires an approved registration to view)

Non-targeted testing relies on statistical comparison of test results with an "authentic" database.  Such databases are difficult to construct, highly speciric, and usually held by an individual organisation.  

FAN curate a "database of databases", to signpost to organisations that hold such non-targeted reference databases.  We have recently added seven databases that are held by Wageningen Food Safety Research (WUR).

• "Organic" and "grass fed" claims in cows' milk and butter
• "Organic" and "free range" claims in eggs
• Undeclared prior freezing of fish
• White fish species, as an adulterant in fish and meat
• "Organic" and "free range" claims in chicken (database no longer updated)
• Premium chocolate varieties (database no longer updated)

You can find our database of databases here, or navigate via the "Search for Authenticity Databases" button on our home page.

Thanks to FAN member Annemieke Pusjens for providing this information.  If you know of other databases it would be useful to signpost then plcase contact us at sacretary@foodauthenticity.global

Stable carbon isotope ratio analysis of isolated honey protein is one of the standard panel of methods for authenticity assessment. However, conventional protein precipitation protocols rely on sulphuric acid, which risks acid catalyzed degradation of abundant sugars.

This study (purchase required, USD $5) evaluated a milder and safer alternative protocol by substituting sulphuric acid with phosphoric acid.  The authors optimized key pretreatment parameters including acid concentration, reaction temperature, reaction time, washing frequency, and drying methods using six distinct honey samples. The experimental results indicated that while carbon isotope ratios remained highly stable and consistent across most tested variables, the physical yield and procedural stability of protein recovery were significantly influenced by each parameter.

The optimal pretreatment configuration was established as 0.5 M phosphoric acid concentration, a reaction temperature of 60°C, a reaction duration of 30 min, a three-cycle washing procedure, and freeze-drying. Compared to hot-air oven drying which induced minor thermal degradation and a scorched appearance, freeze-drying successfully preserved the physical quality and texture of the isolated proteins into a fine powder.

The authors conclude that their precipitation conditions provide an efficient, reliable, and standardized pretreatment protocol that ensures both stable protein recovery and isotopic accuracy, making it highly suitable for routine honey authenticity testing via isotope ratio mass spectrometry.

This qualitative research paper (purchase required, GBP £13) explores one significant incident of food fraud in Nigeria.  It deals with the vulnerabilities that led to the fraud, the regulatory response, and the economic and trade consequences.  The author draws upon secondary data, policy reports and documented enforcement actions.

The incident involved 82 tonnes of seeds, intercepted in Kano State’s Dawanau grain market, which had been adulterated with dust, mould and inferior grains.  They were destined for both domestic and export markets.

The regulatory response, led by the Federal Produce Inspection Service (FPIS) and the Kano State Consumer Protection Council (KSCPC), involved product seizure, market surveillance and initiation of legal proceedings.  The author discusses how this example highlights both the capacity for rapid intervention and the limitations of fragmented enforcement systems.

The paper discusses the importance of proactive surveillance, regulatory coordination and investment in infrastructure and traceability to combat food fraud in developing economies. It serves as a practical teaching tool on real-life regulatory responses and offers recommendations applicable across sub-Saharan Africa.

This work (purchase required, USD$35.95) presents an algorithm to transform the LC-MS spectra of one instrument, to make it appear as though it came from another instrument. This allows a machine learning model trained on one set of samples using one LC-MS platform to classify new honey samples on a different LC-MS platform. The authors used a non-targeted honey botanical origin database as a proof of concept.  They trainsferred a dataset of 262 monofloral honey samples across 4 LC-MS platforms using a logistic regression classifier model that predicts whether a sample is blueberry, buckwheat, clover, or “other” monofloral honey.

They report that same-instrument classification was comparable to cross-instrument classification. In 75% of cases, there was no significant difference (p>0.05) between same-instrument and cross-instrument performance.

This pilot study (open access) used octopus as a proof-of-concept in the use of portable NIR, backed by a chemometric database and decision logic, to detect undeclared prior freezing of “fresh” seafood.  Existing methods, such as microscope examination or using enzyme thresholds, are often inconclusive and require samples to be sent offsite for laboratory analysis.

The authors evaluated the performance of a portable MicroNIR system for the discrimination of fresh and thawed Octopus vulgaris under realistic supply chain conditions. The dataset was designed to reflect industrial variability, including different suppliers, fishing areas, fishing methods, and thawing procedures.

They report that Partial Least Squares Discriminant Analysis (PLS-DA) models achieved classification rates of approximately 85% in calibration and cross-validation, while external prediction performance decreased to approximately 75%, particularly for thawed samples. To translate the model results into an operational quality control strategy, a Process Analytical Technology (PAT)-oriented decision logic was developed based on the mean and variability of replicate predictions. An acceptance zone was defined for fresh samples, ensuring that no thawed sample was incorrectly accepted as fresh in the external test set.

They conclude that they have demonstrated the feasibility of integrating portable NIR spectroscopy into a risk-based and online PAT framework for octopus authenticity assessment, prioritizing fraud prevention and robust decision-making.

Photo by Mike Bergmann on Unsplash

In this study, (open access) an extraction-free loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) assay with a visual colorimetric readout was developed for rapid and on-site identification of pork. The reaction conditions were first optimized using purified DNA to minimize matrix interference, during which a COI-targeting primer set was selected and analytical sensitivity determined.

 For direct tissue analysis, a simple toothpick sampling approach was introduced. A sterile bamboo toothpick was inserted into the tissue sample and gently probed five times to collect material. The toothpick tip was then inserted vertically into a pre-aliquoted LAMP master mix and rotated for 10 s to release sample contents.

Tris-HCl buffer (1.5 M, pH 8.8) was incorporated to counteract matrix acidity and stabilize color development of the pH-sensitive indicator. This enabled clear color differentiation under daylight without the need for UV illumination.

The authors report that, using this toothpick sampling method, pork adulteration as low as 0.05% (w/w) was detected within 20 min requiring no specialized instrumentation. Validation with 20 commercial meat products demonstrated complete agreement between LAMP results, qPCR, and Sanger sequencing, confirming the robustness and practical suitability of this assay for field authentication of pork adulteration.

For an explanation of LAMP, see our Analytical Explainers pages.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has highlighted a new review published in npj Science of Food examining how artificial intelligence (AI) is being applied across food safety.

Based on a systematic review of more than 150 peer-reviewed studies, the paper identifies food fraud and authenticity as important areas where AI can support scientists and regulators, alongside laboratory analysis, hazard detection, surveillance and risk forecasting.

AI offers considerable potential for analysing large and complex datasets, identifying patterns and strengthening risk-based decision-making. However, the authors also highlight the importance of high-quality data, standardised metadata, transparency, explainable AI and appropriate governance if these tools are to be used reliably.

These considerations are particularly relevant to food authenticity, where increasingly sophisticated analytical technologies generate large datasets and where confidence in the provenance, quality and interpretation of data is essential.

The review was developed through collaboration between Wageningen Food Safety Research, Wageningen University & Research and FAO.

Read the FAO article.

This e-seminar provides an introduction in to how Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is used to detect exogenous sugar adulteration and authenticate honey.

The presentation explains the principles of NMR, targeted and non-targeted fingerprinting approaches, interpretation of NMR data, validation of authenticity markers, and the role of reference databases in honey analysis. It also provides practical guidance on selecting an NMR testing provider, understanding Certificates of Analysis, and recognising the limitations of database-driven authenticity assessments.

The e-seminar may be of interest to food analysts, regulators, laboratories, enforcement officers, honey producers, and anyone interested in food authenticity, food fraud detection, and analytical chemistry.

This e-seminar was produced by the Joint Knowledge Transfer Framework for Food Standards and Food Safety Analysis, which is funded by the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs; The Government Chemist Program for twenty twenty-three to twenty twenty-six; The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology; The Food Standards Agency and Food Standards Scotland.

Access e-seminar.

This e-seminar has also been added to FAN's Training section.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has published its latest Incident Prevention Update, highlighting recent food and feed incidents, emerging risks and practical measures businesses can take to prevent them.

The July 2026 update covers reports from May and June and illustrates the wide range of issues affecting food supply chains, including microbiological contamination, allergens, pesticide residues, non-compliant imports, unauthorised ingredients and labelling failures. It also includes examples of counterfeit and fraudulent products.

Of particular relevance to the Food Authenticity Network is the connection between food fraud, authenticity and food safety. The FSA highlights saffron as a commodity at risk from food crime, noting that fraud can in some cases create safety risks. Businesses are advised to source from reputable suppliers and maintain robust authenticity and allergen management controls.

Supplier assurance is a recurring theme. The FSA recommends reviewing supplier specifications, verifying documentation and certificates of analysis, undertaking appropriate testing and conducting due diligence on overseas suppliers. For some imported commodities, businesses are specifically advised to confirm that testing certificates are authentic and that reliable analytical methods have been used.

The scale of the wider challenge is also apparent. The FSA reports 2,073 incident notifications during 2025–26, a 14% increase on 2024–25, while root-cause analysis found that process or material issues accounted for 61% of identified causes. This increase resonates with FAN’s own monitoring of global food fraud and regulatory incidents, which has also identified a rise in reported incidents. Together, these trends reinforce the importance of strong supplier assurance, effective authenticity controls and intelligence-sharing across the food system.

Complete https://lnkd.in/ebwg3C82 to subscribe to future editions.

This information source has beenn added to FAN'sIncident Trends page.