The National Food Crime Unit intercepted consignments of coconut water imported to the UK via the Port of Felixstowe earlier this year and analysed 12 samples. Of those, seven tested positive for sugar from external sources, such as sugar derived from starch, sugar cane or maize.

In total, nearly 400 tonnes of coconut water were seized or removed from the market, though the FSA stressed none of the products posed a risk to public health.

Read the full article from The Grocer here.

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Comments

  • Hi

    Where was the analysis carried out please?  Was it akin to chaptalization in the wine sector?

    Thanks.

    Roger

    • Chaptalisation is addition of sugar prior to fermentation to increase alcohol content in wines (detectable after fermentation via 2H isotope ratios, for example). This case seems to be simply about added sugar content, presumably related to codex standards which give a set sugar content (brix of 5) for single strength coconut water. Higher brix rating would, I guess, allow dilution with water, passing off diluted coconut water as full strength. Whether that was the intent here, I don’t know.
    • Hi Roger,

      The article says that "The National Food Crime Unit probe, dubbed Operation Snowdrop, ran between 1 December 2016 and 31 March 2017 and formed part of Operation Opson, a joint Europol-Interpol initiative to tackle substandard and counterfeit food and drink". The press release associated with this work was reported on in May 2017: http://www.foodauthenticity.uk/blog/list/tag/opson+vi which stated that the full report would be published "in the next months".

      However, in the Grocer article, there is a response from one of the manufacturer's that refers to Suffolk Coastal Port Health Authority and testing via Public Scientific Analysis Services Ltd.

      As you know, addition of exogenous sugars is not a new phenomenon and has been observed in other commodities such as honey, fruit juice, wine etc...

      Kind regards

      Selvarani

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