News

The Joint Research Centre of the European Commission have published their monthly collation of food fraud reports for February 2025 here Thanks again to FAN member Bruno Sechet who has turned these into an infographic.  The original infographic, along with his commentary, is on Bruno's LinkedIn feed.

These collations are based on global media reports, and so give a different picture to EU official "suspicions" (as analysed in our recent blog), which is different again to annual collations of official reports as aggregated in our annual summaries.  It is important, when conducting your own risk assessments, to appreciate what a specific data source includes and what it does not.  It is helpful to look at multiple, complementary, data sources.

Further to the review of methods used in the EU co-ordinated survey of honey collected 2021-22 (“From the Hives” survey) – see previous blog here:

The Joint Research Centre of the European Commission have now published (open access) more details of some of the test methods used and results interpretation.  This publication relates particularly to the two qualitative Liquid Chromatography–High-Resolution Mass Spectrometry (LC-HRMS) methods that were developed to detect mannose (Man), difructose anhydride III (DFA III), 2-acetylfuran-3-glucopyranoside (AFGP), and oligo-/polysaccharides with degrees of polymerization (DPs) of 6 to 11.

The presence of mannose and unusual oligo-/polysaccharides was the main reason that many of the samples were flagged as “suspicious” in the previously published report.

The Joint Research Centre of the European Commission have published their monthly collation of food fraud reports for January 2025 here, following on quickly from the final 2024 collations which were highlighted in our blog on 5^th February..  Thanks again to FAN member Bruno Sechet who has turned these into an infographic.  The original infographic, along with his commentary, is on Bruno's LinkedIn feed.

The source for the JRC collation are global media reports, and these always gives a slightly different picture than collating official reports.  Best practice in horizonscanning is to look at multiple collations of fraud incidents/suspicions along with their commentaries, both official and media, and make an intelligent assessment of their complementary scopes and limitations when drawing insight.  FAN's annual aggregated report gives a high-level annual overview for 2024 from official reports.

The Joint Research Centre of the European Commission have published their monthly collation of food fraud reports, combined for November and December 2024, here.  Thanks again to FAN member Bruno Sechet who has turned these into an infographic.  The original infographic (in much better resolution!), along with his commentary, is on Bruno's LinkedIn feed.

The source for the JRC collation are global media reports, and these always gives a slightly different picture than collating official reports.  Best practice in horizonscanning is to look at multiple collations of fraud incidents/suspicions along with their commentaries, both official and media, and make an intelligent assessment of their complementary scopes and limitations when drawing insight.  FAN's annual aggregated report gives a high-level overview of food fraud incidents in 2023 as recorded in official reports. The 2024 version is in preparation and will be published on our website soon.   

The Joint Research Centre of the European Commission have published their October 2024 collation of food fraud reports here..  Thanks to FAN member Bruno Sechet who has again collated these as an infographic.  The original infographic, along with his commentary, is on Bruno's LinkedIn feed.

The JRC collation uses global media reports, and this always gives a slightly different picture than collating official reports.  Both sources continue to highlight that fraud is global, and that the same “usual suspect” commodities are routinely targeted by fraudsters.  FAN's recent report gives a high-level annual overview for 2023 from official reports. 

The Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission have published a report that includes an overview of food fraud information sharing networks and incident data held around the world.  (including both the Food Industry Intelligence Network, Fiin, and the 2022 Defra report FA0175 into food fraud drivers and mitigation tools).

The report recommends the funding of a new predictive analytics model to try and prioritise future fraud risks based on historic patterns of reported incidents.  This would be predicated on improved data sharing between different countries and between industry and governments.  The report recommends a public-private partnership model to develop the concept.

The Joint Research Centre of the European Commission have published their latest collation of food fraud reports here. They have combined the reports from July and August 2024 into a single summary.  Thanks to FAN member Bruno Sechet who has again collated these as an infographic.  The original infographic, along with his commentary, is on Bruno's LinkedIn feed.

The JRC collation uses global media reports, and this always gives a slightly different picture than collating official reports.  FAN's recent report gives a high-level annual overview for 2023 from official reports. 

The European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) has published guidance on the selection and use of DNA extraction methods.

Extracting DNA of suitable quality and quantity from a test sample is a fundamental upstream step that underpins the confidence in a number of downstream analytical molecular biology based methods (e.g., qPCR. dPCR, NGS, etc.,).

This official guidance document provides advice on the selection and use of fit for purpose DNA extraction methods. Whilst this guidance uses the example of DNA extraction in the context of official controls for the analysis of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), the principles it describes are universally applicable to all DNA based methods including those for food authenticity.

Advice is provided on the selection of different protocols and decision support systems, and guidance provided on validation approaches and the assessment of DNA quality parameters, further illustrated with practical examples/solutions based on extensive collective experiences.

Access guidance: DOI: 10.2760/76162 (online)

This guidance has also been added to the Quality section of this website.

The Food Integrity Unit of the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC), is looking for laboratories with expertise in beeswax analyses, interested in participating in a method validation study by inter-laboratory comparison according to ISO 5725-2.                                                                
The goal is to evaluate repeatability and reproducibility of the gas chromatography based analytical method for quantifying paraffin n-alkanes respectively stearin/stearic acid in beeswax with the aim to identify potential adulteration of beeswax.                                                                                         
The participants will receive a set of beeswax test samples, the detailed analytical protocol of the method, and the necessary consumables, free of charge.                                                                   
If you interested in being part of this important project that will lead to the future standardisation of the method by an international standardisation organization, please contact: Christina.CHRISTIA@ec.europa.eu 

Thanks again to FAN member Bruno Sechet of Integralim (www.integralim.net)  who has formatted the JRC monthly food fraud report as this pictorial infographic. 

The original report, along with those from previous months, can be found here. 

Remember that you can sign up on the JRC website to be notified when each report is published. 

Labelling can help consumers make informed, healthy and sustainable food choices.

The European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) publishes the results of a scientific study related to food information to consumers on origin labelling.

The European Commission will use the findings of these studies as input for a proposal to revise the EU rules on the information provided to consumers as part of the EU’s ‘Farm-to-Fork’ Strategy and Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan.

The scientists reviewed the literature on the impact of origin information of food products on purchase decisions and consumption. They looked into how and why consumers use, understand, and are influenced by origin information, coming to the following conclusions:

• Information about both country of origin and place or region of origin has a substantial influence on consumers’ food choices.
• Consumers attach importance to origin information as:
  1. a cue to good quality and environmentally friendly products;
  2. on average they like to support their local or domestic farmers and food industry.
• Consumers report (in surveys) that they attach importance to origin information. However, when actually shopping, they may focus less on origin information than they would like to (because of time pressure, the attractiveness of brands etc.).

Read the full report: Consumer understanding of origin labelling on food packaging and its impact on consumer product evaluation and choices: A systematic literature review.

This Technical Report presents challenges, opportunities and good practice examples in relation to the implementation of Article 9(2) of Regulation (EU) 2017/625 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 March 2017 on official controls and other official activities performed to ensure the application of food and feed law, rules on animal health and welfare, plant health and plant protection products.

Competent authorities of the Member States are required to not only detect violations of the rules governing the agri-food chain but also to identify possible intentional violations of those rules, perpetrated through fraudulent or deceptive practices by operators for the purpose of gaining an undue advantage.

Between 2020 and 2022 a series of pilot and fact-finding studies of eight Member States were carried out with the aim to identify good practice examples and challenges Member State authorities face with the implementation of fraud related controls. The results of these fact-finding studies form the basis of this report. The reports of the six fact findings studies have also been published:
Sweden: https://ec.europa.eu/food/audits-analysis/audit-report/details/4421
Latvia: https://ec.europa.eu/food/audits-analysis/audit-report/details/4432
Poland: https://ec.europa.eu/food/audits-analysis/audit-report/details/4461
Germany: https://ec.europa.eu/food/audits-analysis/audit-report/details/4511
Portugal: https://ec.europa.eu/food/audits-analysis/audit-report/details/4561
Bulgaria: https://ec.europa.eu/food/audits-analysis/audit-report/details/4560

The report states that as fraud is driven by opportunity and motivation, detecting fraud requires good knowledge about the sector, the fraud risks and the way fraudsters operate. 

The report advocates a risk-based approach based on a vulnerability assessment. The best approach to risk-based planning will differ between authorities, control areas and Member States, but the risk-based planning should be based on a vulnerability assessment. A fraud risk assessment should be tailored to the control areas for which the competent authority is responsible. The report acknowledges that a one-size-fits-all solution across all sectors does not exist and provides key considerations for undertaking vulnerability assessments.

Furthermore, the use of mechanisms for the exchange of information between competent authorities on suspicions of fraudulent practices and criminal investigations (fraud part of iRASFF, Secure Information Exchange Network Application - SIENA, etc.) is crucial.

The purpose of this technical report therefore is to promote the uniform interpretation and application of the provisions of Article 9(2) of Regulation (EU) 2017/625

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.2760/31366

Today, the European Commission has published the results of the EU-wide coordinated action “From the Hives” on honey contaminated with sugars.

These investigations aimed to put a stop to operators voluntarily placing contaminated honey onto the EU market and sanction them accordingly if needed. Of the 320 samples taken at EU borders and analysed by the Joint Research Centre (JRC), 147 (46%) were suspected of being non-compliant.

This suspicion rate was considerably higher in comparison to an earlier EU-wide coordinated control plan conducted in 2015-17, where 14% of the analysed samples did not comply with established benchmark criteria to assess honey authenticity.

However, the JRC applied a different set of methods, with improved detection capability, throughout the current exercise, which may explain this contrast.

For more information:

• Q&A (DG SANTE)
• Video (OLAF)
• Press Release (JRC)
• Press release (OLAF)

JRC has published its monthly summary on articles covering food fraud and adulteration. In this issue, there are articles on frauds involving:

• olive oil
• molasses and sugar
• fruits, vegetables
• soy, seafood
• meat
• alcoholic beverages and wine
• cereals
• milk
• cheese
• tea
• sauces
• fruit juices.

Read the full summary at: August 2022 JRC Food Fraud Summary

The European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) has published its March 2022 Food Fraud Monthly Summary reporting food fraud incidents and investigations from around the world.

Food fraud cases reported involved:

• wine
• alcoholic beverages
• milk and milk products
• cereals
• meat products
• eggs
• olive oil
• seafood
• soft drinks
• nuts
• honey
• spices
• pet food
• vegetables.

You can download the March 2022 Summary here.

The European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) has published its January 2022 Food Fraud Monthly Summary reporting food fraud incidents and investigations from around the world.

Food fraud cases reported involved:

• Bush Meat
• Breakfast Cereals
• Alcoholic beverages
• Coffee
• Seeds
• Cheese
• Wine
• Fish & Shellfish
• Vanilla-based products
• Oats
• Spices
• Pasta
• Pulses
• Meat
• Meat products
• Fruit & Vegetables
• Milk
• Fruit Juice
• Rice
• Ghee.

You can download the January 2022 Summary here.

The European Commission Joint Research Center (JRC) has published its monthly summary on articles covering food fraud and adulteration. In this November issue, there are articles on frauds involving wine, alcoholic beverages, milk and milk products, herbs and spices, cereals, meat products, seafood, cocoa, tea, fruits and vegetables, oils and honey.

Read the full summary of articles at: https://knowledge4policy.ec.europa.eu/publication/food-fraud-summary-november-2021_en

Many thanks to our Members Riccardo Siligato PhD LLM (for producing the report) and Bruno Sechet (for producing the infographic).

The European Commission published today the results of the first coordinated control plan on the authenticity of herbs and spices launched by the Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety.

It has been carried out by 21 EU Member States, Switzerland and Norway, with the technical support of the Joint Research Centre, which performed nearly 10,000 analyses. The plan is the largest investigation so far into the authenticity of culinary herbs and spices in terms of participating countries and samples analysed (1885).

The main conclusions were as follows: 

• The overall rate of suspicious samples was 17% (323 of a total of 1885 analysed samples), which is less than what was previously reported in the scientific literature or by national food control institutions.
• The oregano supply chain was most vulnerable as 48% of samples were suspicious of being adulterated, in most cases with olive leaves.
• The percentage of samples which were suspicious of adulteration were 17% for pepper, 14% for cumin, 11% for curcuma, and 11% for saffron.
• The lowest suspicion rate (6%) was found for paprika/chilli.
• The majority of suspicious samples contained non-declared plant material; in 2% of the analysed spice samples non-authorised dyes were detected. One sample contained a high level of lead chromate.
• In two cumin, 45 oregano, and four pepper samples copper compounds above the relevant maximum residue limit set by Regulation (EC) No 396/2005 were found.
• No specific trend regarding the rate of potential fraudulent manipulations along the supply chain (countries of origin/importers/wholesalers/processors/packagers) could be observed. However, for certain stages (domestic production, local markets, border control, and internet) the number of samples tested was too low to enable statistically meaningful comparisons.

Read full report.

JRC has published its monthly summary on articles covering food fraud and adulteration. In this October issue, there are articles on frauds involving wine, alcoholic beverages, milk and milk products, herbs and spices, cereals, vegetables, meat products, food supplements, seafood, sugar, olive oil, honey.

Read the full summary of articles at: October JRC Fraud Summary

The European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) has published its May 2021 Food Fraud Monthly Summary reporting food fraud incidents and investigations from around the world.

Food fraud cases reported in May:

• Honey
• Royal jelly
• Herbs
• Spices
• Fish
• Fish products
• Bivalve molluscs and products thereof
• Fats
• Oils
• Meat
• Meat products
• Alcoholic beverages
• Fish
• Fish products
• Fruit
• Vegetables, and other.

Thanks again to our Member Bruno Séchet for creating this infographic and allowing us to share it with the rest of the Network.

You can download the April 2021 Summary here