FSA-funded project: Review of current and emerging analytical methods for the testing of oil for authenticity (Project FS900520)

With funding from the UK Food Standards Agency, Fera Science Limited (Fera) in York, UK is currently undertaking a project to review the current and emerging analytical methods for testing edible oils and support the further development of analytical methods which will underpin and uphold the authenticity of edible oils in the supply chain. 

As part of the project’s evidence gathering, Fera would like to invite parties involved in sourcing, processing, and/or testing edible oils to participate in an online questionnaire. 

The fundamental mission of the FSA is food you can trust. The FSA strategy sets out FSA’s vision to ensure that the UK food system is safe, and that food is what it says it is. This involves building scientific capability in Public Analyst (PA) Official Laboratories (OLs) and working with Defra’s food authenticity programme to conduct research and development for analytical methods. Suitable analytical methods are required to ensure that food is what it says it is and to manage risk around food authenticity.

 As key stakeholders, your insight will help to inform FSA regarding issues in oil authenticity and future-proofed analytical tools to support both industry and regulators, while maintaining consumer confidence in our food. 

 Your participation will be very much appreciated and your views and insight will be invaluable to the project aims.

 A summary of key findings from the questionnaire will be included in the final report, but no sensitive information will be published.

Please complete the questionnaire here. If you have any questions, please contact info@fera.co.uk.

Your kind participation will be very much appreciated and your views and insight will be invaluable to the project aims.

Photo by Stephanie Sarlos on Unsplash

This E-seminar will introduce the viewer to the subject of sampling approaches for food analysis, focusing on those used by the UK Food Standards Agency (FSA).

Food sampling involves taking a sub-sample from a larger consignment to gain insight as to its composition. It performs an essential function in providing intelligence and evidence on the safety and authenticity of food and feed on the market, supporting enforcement action, where needed, to protect consumers. The process for undertaking sampling can be expensive and resource intensive, and therefore needs to be delivered in a coordinated and targeted manner to be effective in addressing identified gaps.

This e-seminar provides information to promote a better understanding of different sampling approaches that can be used in different situations.

This e-seminar was produced by the Joint Knowledge Transfer Framework for Food Standards and Food Safety Analysis, funded by the Food Standards Agency, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Food Standards Scotland and the Department for Science Innovation and Technology via the Government Chemist.

This eSeminar has been added to the eSeminar tab of the FAN Training section and can also be viewed here:

The National Food Crime Unit (NFCU) of the UK Food Standards Agency has issued an AMBER Food Crime Alert on the Risk of Distribution Fraud Thefts from Food Businesses.

There has been a recent increase in the reporting of distribution fraud being used as a method of stealing high value food products from UK based companies.

The method of theft will include impersonating an existing business and using falsified documentation such as email addresses, invoices or even fake websites.

WHY HAS THE NFCU ISSUED THIS ALERT?
This alert is based on recent reports of this methodology being used in high profile thefts of food. Because of this NFCU is sharing this information via industry groups in England, Wales and Northern Ireland to encourage vigilance to this potential risk, and that food businesses update any risk assessments and processes to increase their resilience to this form of fraud.

           ACTION RECOMMENDED

1. Ensure that this information is used to inform any vulnerability or fraud risk assessments with appropriate actions in place.
2. Inform relevant colleagues with responsibility for sales and customer contracts to be aware of any unusual or suspicious activity such as changes to bank details from existing customers or new customers requesting extremely large orders of high value items.
3. If unsure whether a purchase is legitimate, do not reply directly to contacts via email or messages. Instead use publicly listed information for the company that are attempting the purchase and contact them directly to validate the details you are being given.

CONTACT NFCU - If you become aware of information relevant to this Food Crime Alert, please share with us via:
WEBSITE – visit food.gov.uk and click 'Report' at the top of the page.
TELEPHONE –08000 28 11 80.
EMAIL – foodcrime@food.gov.uk.
Please quote the alert number A002 in correspondence. Our processes enable us to handle information discreetly.

Read full alert.

The UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) have published a survey of 1025 samples purchased at retail in the 2^nd 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.

The UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) and Food Standards Scotland (FSS) have been awarded a £1.6M grant as part of round one of the Engineering Biology Sandbox Fund, which aims to test innovative regulatory approaches for products like cultivated meat. Cell-cultivated products are foods created through the isolation of cells from meat, seafood, fat, offal or eggs which are grown in a controlled environment. It could result in food production which is more environmentally friendly and sustainable, using just 1% of the land used for animal equivalents, while increasing food security. Programmes like this will help bring innovative food products to shop shelves safely but without unnecessary delay and at lower costs, giving consumers more choice.  There are a number of challenges to address in the regulatory approval, and subsequent enforcement, of cell cultivated products, not least of which is authenticity verification (how to ensure that the product on sale has been produced only using the regulatory-approved process, scaffolds and starting materials)

The NFCU have published their quarterly update for industry.

It covers the UK's updated Strategic Food Crime Assessment (described more fully in a FAN blog earlier this month), a specific warning about counterfeit vodka and a more general warning about meat composition and labelling, plus includes a section on best practice for goods-in checks.  Specific ingredients that are suffering current price or availability volatility are highlighted; UK lamb and pork, tea, edible oils, and lemon.

The last decade has witnessed significant advances in analytical technologies with the capabilities to support food integrity and authenticity testing within the rapidly evolving food industry. Devices that allow diagnostic tests to be performed at or near the point of need, often termed Point-of-contact (POC), represent a growing area within the food sector with the potential to provide real-time monitoring of input materials and production process. POC devices can range from handheld spectroscopic devices such as Raman and FT-IR instruments to desktop portable systems inclusive of compact mass spectrometry, NMR and next generation sequencing (NGS) systems.

UK National Measurement Laboratory at LGC

Key findings for 2022
2022 was a deeply challenging year for consumers. Food prices rose at a faster rate than inflation for much of the year and were accompanied by sharp increases in other household expenses, adding to the strain on people’s finances. Overall spending on in-home food reduced by 6.9% in 2022 compared to 2021. Oils and spreads, dairy and alternatives, and fish, eggs, meat and other proteins experienced faster price rises than other Eatwell Guide food groups - all of them essential elements in many people’s diets. FSA and FSS focus group research showed people across a wide range of income brackets were making compromises such as swapping out premium brands for budget ranges or eating out less in a bid to cut costs.

A record number of households – one in five across England, Wales and Northern Ireland – were classified as food insecure in 2022, meaning that their diet and/or food intake had been limited in some way due to their financial or personal circumstances. Similar evidence of increased food insecurity can be seen in Scottish data. A minority of people across the UK also reported cutting corners on food preparation and hygiene, including reducing their use of fridges and freezers or reducing the length of time they cooked their food, to reduce energy bills.

The global food system had to adapt to abrupt shifts in trading patterns as traditional supply lines were disrupted for some commodities. Though the available data from border checks does not indicate any shift in the safety of goods arriving from outside the EU, the UK has increased the number of high-risk foods now subject to enhanced checks at the border, partly in response to concerns about pesticide residues and other toxins in products from certain countries. As EU imports are not currently checked, we cannot comment authoritatively on the safety of goods arriving from the EU.

As we develop new trading partnerships, FSA and FSS will continue to advise government on whether new free trade agreements (FTAs) uphold statutory food safety protections. To support the public’s interest in understanding the wider production values of imported food, FSA and FSS are also exploring how to address the lack of robust, international data on issues such as animal welfare and environmental and ethical production standards.

Although food businesses have also experienced sharp rises in their costs, the latest inspection data suggests this has not translated into any detectable reduction in compliance with food hygiene standards. Based on the latest inspection data as at the end of 2022, the vast majority of food businesses had met food hygiene standards at the point when they were last inspected.

Meanwhile the number of local authority inspections carried out returned to pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels in 2022. This is an important milestone, but it should be noted there were still approximately 39,500 unrated businesses at the end of 2022 across England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Adequate resourcing is vital for ensuring food hygiene rules are upheld, but the FSA’s analysis of local authority staffing shows there are approximately 14% fewer food safety posts being funded across England, Wales and Northern Ireland compared to a decade ago – and even where these posts do exist, over 13% are vacant.

The situation in Scotland is more pronounced, where there are 25% fewer food safety posts than in 2016. There have also been reductions in food standards and food law officer posts across the UK, further challenging the ability of local authorities to carry out essential checks on food authenticity, composition and information standards. In 2022, both FSA and FSS had to take additional measures to address the ongoing resourcing challenges being faced by the veterinary profession – particularly in the recruitment of Official Veterinarians (OVs).

Analysis of reported food incidents and foodborne disease outbreaks, the results of national sampling programmes delivered by FSA, FSS and Defra, and the available intelligence on food crime do not suggest there has been any significant change in food safety and authenticity standards during 2022. However, we are concerned about ongoing breaches in food composition labelling in relation to allergens. To address this, further collaboration with local
authorities and food businesses will be required. 

Read full report.

The UK Food Standards Agency has published a report that has developed a Cost of Food Crime (CoFC) model, which identifies and measures the economic and social cost of food crime.

Cost of Food Crime to the UK

• The total cost of food crime on the UK is estimated to be between £410 million and £1.96 billion per year.
• This is equivalent to between 0.07% and 0.33% of the UK food industry turnover each year (BEIS, 2021).
• The estimated value of fraudulent food and drink in the UK is between £296 million and £1.48 billion per year (discussed in Section 2.4 CoFC).
• The range in the estimated total cost of food crime represents the sensitivity to the volume of criminal activity, from crimes reported to estimates of total crimes (including unreported activity). Further research is required to develop the quality of data in order to narrow the range with confidence. 

The full report can be accessed here.

The UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) has published a 3-year corporate plan, which explains how their 5-year strategy will be turned into concrete actions.

In the next 3 years FSA want to:

• Maintain the current high levels of trust and confidence in the food system and FSA. 
• Maintain food standards, so that food is safe and what it says it is, and consumers can continue to have confidence in their food 
• grow our contribution to and influence on food that is healthier and more sustainable, building on the work we have started since we published our strategy 

Read the Executive Summary and the full Corporate Plan.

The Food Standards Agency's National Food Crime Unit (NFCU) has published a video on the types of food crime you might come across and how to report it.

The NFCU and partners tackle food crime every day to make sure food is safe to eat and is what it says it is.

NFCU colleagues work closely with the food industry to ensure that businesses are well-informed and prepared so they know how to spot food crime and stop it.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has updated its areas of research interest (ARI) to include a focus on food that is healthier and more sustainable.

The FSA has shared its first science newsletter.

These quarterly newsletters will update you on FSA funding opportunities, latest research publications, areas of research interest, and will highlight FSA science job vacancies and peer reviewer opportunities.  

In this first issue, FSA highlight the recent launch of the new FSA 5-year strategy and the new Food Safety Research Network, and the publication of household food insecurity reports

Highlights

FSA 5-year Strategy Launch
We recently published our strategy for improving food over the next five years and recommitted to our mission of food you can trust.

The five-year strategy reflects the FSA’s greater responsibilities now that the UK is outside of the EU and takes into account growing public concern about health and climate change. Read our full FSA strategy 2022 to 2027: Food you can trust.

FSA research shows growing concern around the cost of food

Research published by the Food Standards Agency today shows the cost of food is a future major worry for three out of four of people in the UK.

FSA announces appointment of two fellowships to the PATH-SAFE programme
We're delighted to announce the appointment of two fellowships to the Pathogen Surveillance in Agriculture, Food and the Environment programme (PATH-SAFE) team. Data Fellow Professor David Aanensen and Science Fellow Dr Ed Haynes will play a key role in driving forward our scientific innovation. You can read our blog post Making food safer with two PATH-SAFE fellowships.

Food Standards Agency takes next step to regulate CBD market
FSA takes next step to regulate CBD market
We have confirmed the list of CBD products that are now one step closer towards being authorised. The CBD Public List shows which products have a credible application for authorisation with the FSA.

Food Safety Network

We’re pleased to launch a new Food Safety Research Network, co-funding with UKRI-BBSRC. Hosted by The Quadram Institute, the network will help tackle the UK’s annual 2.4 million cases of foodborne illness by bringing together experts from government, industry and academic to address issues of food safety. 

FSA Scientific Advisory Committees welcome twelve new members

The Chair of the Food Standards Agency (FSA) Professor Susan Jebb has announced the appointment of 12 new independent experts as members of the FSA’s Scientific Advisory Committees (SACs)

Speak Up For Allergies Campaign
We have launched the next phase of the Speak Up For Allergies campaign. The campaign encourages young people to support friends with allergies when eating in restaurants and the important role of front of house staff to provide allergen information effectively.

Improving School Food Standards
Following the publication of the Government’s Levelling Up White Paper, our Chair, Susan Jebb, welcomes plans for a pilot aimed at improving school food standards.

Recent Publications

We collaborate with a range of stakeholders on research projects to ensure our work is underpinned by the latest science and evidence. Our publications are available on our Research and Evidence pages. 

If you would like to receive this newsletter directly or in an alternative format, or if you would like to chat about any of the information provided within this newsletter, FSA would be happy to hear from you. Please get in touch by emailing Science.Communications@food.gov.uk.

The FSA has issued a final call for evidence linking products to applications on the public list. The CBD public list shows which products have a credible application for authorisation with the FSA.

Businesses have until 26 May 2022 to submit evidence that their products are linked to a credible application and were on the market before February 2020.

CBD Public List: Register of CBD products linked to novel food applications

Read full article.

In response to many questions posted in the chat of the Webinar on the Global Honey Supply Chain that took place on 19 January 2022, the page on the Government Chemist website has been updated with work in progress on honey authenticity:

"This webinar and the consequent e-seminar is part of a suite of activities Defra, FSA, FSS and the Government Chemist are jointly working on to address some of the underpinning scientific issues that have emerged on the subject of honey testing and a number of workstreams are in progress.

Two further e-seminars, which will assist in disseminating information on honey authenticity testing, are in production. These cover using NMR testing for the determination of exogenous sugars in honey and best practice in establishing and curating databases for food authenticity. Work is also underway to develop guidance on applying a weight of evidence approach for food authenticity analysis, to pilot accreditation of non-targeted authenticity testing methods, to improve consistency and confidence in testing and reporting and to explore a data trust framework to share information on the honey supply chain and testing between interested communities. This will be followed by activity to standardise a protocol for the collection of authentic honey samples and to establish a framework for the scrutiny of authenticity databases. We are collaborating with key stakeholders on all these initiatives to secure the best outcome for all.

FSA’s blog on the complexities of honey authenticity, includes links to the recently published Government Chemist independent review of methods for honey authenticity testing and of the analytical reports underpinning recent allegations of honey fraud."

This FSA project develops a conceptual framework for modelling and capturing the full range of costs attributed to food crime on UK society, along with an assessment of the availability of data that would be necessary to produce this model.

An economic framework was developed for estimating the economic cost of food crime which uses:

1. Victim costs: Direct economic losses suffered by crime victims, including medical care costs and lost earnings.
2. Criminal justice system costs: Costs of anti-food crime activities, legal and adjudication services, and corrections programs including incarceration.
3. Crime career costs: Opportunity costs associated with the criminal’s choice to engage in illegal rather than legal and productive activities.
4. Intangible costs: Indirect losses suffered by crime victims, including pain and suffering, decreased quality of life, and psychological distress.
5. Market costs: Loss of profits for genuine firms.

Analysis was also conducted to assess how these costs can be calculated given available data sources. Finally, an assessment of the possibility of applying machine learning or other tools to build algorithms to calculate the costs was carried out.

The findings of this project will eventually be used in a phase 2 of the work which will look to build a model to provide preliminary estimates of the cost of food crime to UK society. 

Read full report.

Genome editing, also known as gene editing, is one of the precision breeding techniques in food that may be adopted by the government after EU Exit. Therefore DEFRA have run a public consultation on genetic technologies in food (Opens in a new window).

This research by the Food Standards Agency complements the consultation by gathering evidence specifically on consumer interests. For more information about genome editing in food, view our FSA Explains video.

Key findings  

• Consumers tended to have very low awareness and very low knowledge of GE food.
• More informed consumers were, or became, more accepting of GE food.
• Consumers tended to find GE food more acceptable than GM food. However, consumers found GM or GE applied to plants more acceptable than applications to animals, for example, due to human safety and animal welfare concerns.
• Most consumers felt it would be appropriate to regulate GE foods separately from GM foods. At the same time, many felt regulation should be just as thorough as for GM.
• Most consumers felt labelling should always inform the consumer of the presence of GE ingredients using the full term ‘genome edited’.  
• Overall, consumers wanted thorough regulation and transparent labelling if GE foods reach the UK market, and they suggested social media information campaigns and TV documentaries would help educate the public on GE food. 

Download report and appendices.

 Registration is now open for a free online conference, run in partnership between the UK Food Standards Agency and the University of Sheffield, on Monday 9 November 2020 as part of the Economic and Social Research Council’s (ESRC) Festival of Social Science.

The COVID 19 outbreak has necessitated a move away from more traditional data collection methods and accelerated the innovative use of digital data. In partnership with the University of Sheffield, this virtual half-day event will demonstrate how digital data collection and analysis can inform our understanding of food, and outline key findings related to the digitalisation of food behaviours.  

It will cover the recent review of the FSA flagship survey, Food and You, digital self-report methods on handwashing behaviour and key findings from recent social media analysis, including COVID-19 trends in food behaviour.    

The event offers an excellent opportunity for anyone in the social science community to hear about how social science directly informs real life policy-making in a government context under rapidly changing circumstances. As well as learning about the work and priorities of the FSA and international colleagues, virtual panel sessions will provide an opportunity to discuss ideas with experts from academia, industry and policy.  

To book your place, please register using Eventbrite.  

The FSA has today published guidance to assist food businesses in responding to the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.

The new guidance has been developed with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and covers a range of areas including good hygiene practice, management of employee sickness, and social distancing for specific food business settings.

It is very unlikely that people can catch COVID-19 from food. COVID-19 is a respiratory illness and not known to be transmitted by exposure to food or food packaging.

The FSA is working with the food industry to ensure that businesses know what their responsibilities are and what actions they need to take to maintain safety standards and protect staff during the outbreak.

The guidance can be found on GOV.UK