2023 (7)

The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) 2023 Annual report, published last month, includes a summary of food fraud investigations and outcomes (see p61 onwards).

The FSAI Audits, Incidents and Investigations team conducted 57 investigations and 21 online investigations.  These ranged from warranted searches of premises to the monitoring of social media pages in cases where the online operation of unauthorised food businesses was suspected.  Outcomes included three Closure Orders, two Prohibition Orders and four Compliance Notices. Food safety concerns identified during these investigations necessitated the removal and disposal of more than 141,806 kg of products of animal origin.  The FSAI engaged with online platforms (such as Facebook and Instagram) where illegal food businesses were selling products online. This engagement resulted in two unregistered food businesses’ pages being taken down by the social media sites.

In overview, the report highlights a rise in “complex” food incidents.

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Survey Results – UK FSA Retail Food 2023 Q2

The UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) have published a survey of 1025 samples purchased at retail in the 2nd half of 2023.  Samples were targeted on a risk-basis, and the survey included authenticity testing of some samples.

The survey found:  

  • There was a considerable increase in compliance for olive oil year on year 75% in 2022/23 to 87% (26 out of 30) 2023/24
  • Food authenticity rates for samples tested were 97% compliant for the areas of authenticity tested
  • There are no overall geographical hotspots for non-compliance 

From the small number of samples tested, two potentially widespread authenticity issues were flagged which will be used to inform future enforcement priorities.

  • 40% (16 out of 40) of frozen raw chicken was non-compliant due to undeclared, or excess, added water and labelling issues
  • 42% (10 out of 24) of frozen beef burgers were non-compliant, with eight samples having less meat content than declared, and 4 samples containing higher fat levels than stated.
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12998681485?profile=RESIZE_710x'Our Food 2023: An annual review of food standards across the UK.' has been published today by the UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) and Food Standards Scotland (FSS).

This is the third in a series of annual reports since the UK left the EU. Our Food 2023 is an evidence-based assessment of food standards across all four nations of the UK.

The analysis conducted suggests that food standards in the UK remained stable during 2023. Yet there are questions about the resilience of our food system for the future. So, FSA and FSS are highlighting three areas that government, businesses and regulators need to work together to address.

1️⃣ More needs to be done to ensure that consumers can access safe, nutritious food against a backdrop of rising prices.

2️⃣ After a long-term decline in numbers, pressure on the local authority workforce continues, with a significant backlog in the number of food businesses awaiting inspection.

3️⃣ Without a reliable and secure resourcing model for Official Veterinarians, there is increased risk of disruption to the UK meat chain in the years ahead due to staff shortages, as well as increasing costs that will be passed on to businesses and consumers.

FSA and FSS are asking government, industry and regulators to work together on these and the other challenges highlighted in this report. The cooperation of everyone in the food system, from government departments and food businesses, to our colleagues in local authorities, remains essential for ensuring people have access to safe, healthy and sustainable food.

Read the full report.

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FAN 2023 Global Food Fraud Report

12437559458?profile=RESIZE_710xHeadlines:

  • Food fraud reports published by global regulatory agencies during 2023 do not provide evidence of a consistent, significant trend during 2023.
  • The activity associated with official food fraud and food safety reports remained fairly consistent across the four quarters of 2023.
  • The top three commodities with the most food fraud reports varies depending on the source of reports and the tool used:
  • Using official reports only, ‘Fruit, vegetables & legumes’, ‘Milk & diary products’ and ‘Beverages’ are the top three.   
  • Using official, media & peer reviewed publication reports, ‘Honey’, ‘Herbs & Spices’ and ‘Meat & Poultry’ are the top three.
  • The number of official food fraud reports published, by an average of thirty-six sources, is very low at only ~9% of food safety reports.
  • Botanical origin fraud was the most reported type of food fraud in 2023, followed by dilution or substitution, and animal origin fraud.

FAN has collaborated with the providers of three leading commercial food fraud incident collation tools (FoodChain ID Food Fraud Database, HorizonScan and Safety HUD) to produce this report, which provides a summary of global food fraud reports in 2023. This report is the first annual report to be produced for this FAN Partner project. 

We are grateful to our Partners (McCormick & Company, Dr Ehrenstorfer and LGC Axio, Tenet Compliance & Litigation, the Food Industry Intelligence Network, the Institute of Food Science & Technology, SSAFE, Tesco, and BRCGS (LGC Assure)) for funding this work.

For 2024, Gold and Platinum FAN Partners will be sent a quarterly dashboard at the end of each quarter.

Read full report.

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Fighting food frauds on the frontline

12322855490?profile=RESIZE_180x180Our Secretary, John Points, has written an article for a special edition of the Institute of Food Science and Technology's Journal of Food Science and Technology focussed on 'food safety and authenticity', in which he emphasises the pervasive impact of food fraud, spanning from brand risks to safety risks, advocating rigorous risk assessment, vigilance, and the use of tools like analytical testing to effectively detect and mitigate fraudulent activities in the food industry.

The article is open access.

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12309451865?profile=RESIZE_710xThe modern food industry is a rapidly evolving sector with complex supply chains that utilises a wide variety of analytical tools to support food integrity and authenticity.

Next Generation Sequencing (NGS)-based approaches represent an emerging analytical technology that is growing within the food sector, providing  the potential to not only screen and test input materials, but also the production process and end products. 

Photo by Braňo on Unsplash

This questionnaire is part of a UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) funded project tasked with reviewing the application of NGS technology to food authenticity testing and supporting harmonisation and the development of standards for NGS approaches applicable to the verification of food authenticity. The questionnaire is targeted at individuals involved in the food and associated diagnostics sectors, including technology developers, suppliers and official controls.

Your participation in this questionnaire will directly help inform the direction of the project and contribute to guidance within the sector.

Please do not provide any information that could be used to identify you. Thank you for participating in our questionnaire which should only take around 15 minutes to complete. Your feedback is important.

Access questionnaire.

We would be very grateful if you could complete the questionnaire by 5 January 2024.
 
Thank you for participating in this questionnaire.
 

UK National Measurement Laboratory at LGC

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12150420865?profile=RESIZE_710xWe are delighted that the Food Authenticity Network (FAN) has been shortlisted for supporting business resilience in the FDF Awards 2023!

The winners will be announced at the FDF Awards ceremony in September 2023 at the Roundhouse, London. Further information on the ceremony and registration can be found here.

Wish us luck! 

 

 

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