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Cell Cultivated Products (CCPs) are novel foods produced by growing animal cells in controlled environments rather than through traditional livestock farming. CCPs offer the potential for sustainable and ethical alternatives to conventional protein sources but raise important questions regarding safety, quality, authenticity and labelling.

There is a growing requirement to understand the current state of laboratory-based analytical methods that could be applied for the traceability of CCPs. As part of a project for the Food Standards Agency (FS900616: Review of analytical methods for Cell Cultivated Products), the National Measurement Laboratory at LGC is assessing the potential of laboratory-based analytical methods for the detection of CCPs in food and feed supply chains.

A questionnaire has been devised to help inform the knowledge and evidence base that will support readiness for the practical enforcement of CCPs and address potential future challenges.

We kindly invite stakeholders, across industry, academia, regulatory bodies and laboratories, to complete the survey by 6 March 2026 and share insights based on their professional experience — your input will play a vital role in shaping future analytical capability and ensuring effective oversight of CCPs.

Link to questionnaire: https://forms.office.com/e/NEfe3uEQtt

Thank you!

The National Measurement Laboratory at LGC

This study (open access) used machine learning classification models to identify monosaccharide markers for coffee adulteration.  These markers (proposed thresholds for glucose, xylose and mannitol) are suitable for authenticity monitoring vs Brazilian official regulatory standards (SDA Ordinance 570) using High-Performance Anion Exchange Chromatography with Pulsed Amperometric Detection and can flag adulteration with corn, wheat, and barley adulteration from 3%.

The training and validation sets were prepared from verified samples supplied by the Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture and roasted, ground and adulterated in-house.  Coffees (157 raw samples) comprised of arabica and canephora species from eight different states.  Adulterants were acai, husk, barley, wood fragments, corn and wheat ranging from 1 – 20%.

Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash

When crises disrupt Europe’s food system, no single actor can respond effectively alone.

That’s why SecureFood is developing a Resilience Governance Framework, which includes a new cooperation mechanism to help governments, industry, researchers, and civil society work together more systematically during disruptions.

To ensure this mechanism reflects the real needs and experiences of stakeholders, we need your input.

Please share your perspective by completing this short survey on our website: https://lnkd.in/dS_NYGcH

Thank you - your insights will help build a stronger, more resilient European food system.

Near-Infrared (NIR) sensors are routinely used for in-process monitoring in the cheese industry, from raw milk analysis to final product grading. For example, in curd processing, real-time NIR monitoring of moisture and fat content enables dynamic adjustments to cutting and cooking parameters, reducing batch inconsistencies.  During ripening, hyperspectral NIR imaging tracks proteolysis and lipid oxidation, providing insights into flavour development and shelf-life prediction.

There have been many proof-of-concept studies to extend the technique from quality monitoring and in-process adjustments to real-time checks for authenticity or chemical contaminants.  None have yet made it into routine use.  This review (open access) discusses the current gaps, the latest developments, and argues that – with the pace of AI development – these gaps could soon be closed, particularly in the PDI/PGO cheese supply chains.  Success would require coordinated efforts among research laboratories, regulatory authorities and producers to establish harmonised protocols, shared spectral repositories and validation frameworks.

This study ($25 download fee) compiled 254 incidents of food adulteration reported across from 20 countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region between 2019 and 2024, gathered from primary sources published in Arabic (85 %), English (10 %), and French (5 %). It also analysed 1261 notifications from the RASFF concerning food products originating from MENA countries during the same period.

The authors report that Lebanon and Turkey contributed the highest number of reported incidents with mislabelling (particularly expiry-date falsification) being the most common fraud.

The web-based surveillance identified 254 incidents, with Lebanon contributing to the highest number (15 %) followed by Egypt, Jorda and Iraq, while 78.9 % of all signals were classified generically as “food product’ and the most common issues involved expiration-date manipulation (62.9 %).

In the RASFF system, 1261 notifications linked to MENA-origin products were recorded, dominated by Turkey with 564 notifications (44.7 %) followed by Egypt (18 %) with alerts increasing between 2019 and 2024 and mainly triggered by contaminants (45.7 %) or unauthorized substances (16.9 %)

[Image – EverythingBen, available under Creative Commons Universal Public Domain Dedication]

Milk adulteration remains an endemic problem in many regions of the world.  Police action, consumer illness and even fatalities are reported regularly from countries such as India and Pakistan.  There is a need for simple, low-tech, cheap, tests that can be used by either business customers or by the public.

This paper (purchase required) describes a low-cost hybrid paper/plastic strip test for the simultaneous detection of seven potential adulterants in cow milk: urea, hydrogen peroxide, starch, formaldehyde, antioxidants, sodium hypochlorite, and neutralisers/detergent.  It uses pH-based colorimetric sensing without sample pretreatment. The device was fabricated using a craft cutter and combined paper and plastic substrates, allowing multiplexed detection on a single strip.

The authors report that the test strips remained stable for up to 30 days under refrigeration (2–5 °C). In a case study of 50 milk samples, the device accurately identified adulterants with minimal interference, and results showed no significant deviation from reference methods.

Fabrication costs are around $0.25 per unit.  The authors conclude that the proposed platform provides a reliable, affordable, and scalable solution for routine milk quality monitoring, representing a promising tool for enhancing quality control in the dairy industry.

[image from the publication]

The European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) have recently produced “authentic” and “inauthentic” honey reference materials.  These materials will shortly be available within laboratory proficiency testing (PT) schemes.  Analysis of reference materials (where a laboratory’s result can be compared to a traceable known value) and participation in PT schemes (where laboratories compare their own results to those of their peers testing the same sample) are critical aspects of the Quality Assurance system of any testing laboratory, and are mandatory where testing is accredited to ISO 17025.

Participants in LGC AXIO’s Food Chemistry proficiency test for honey parameters will have the option to take part in an additional exercise in the June 2026 round. This add‑on focuses on the analysis of honey authenticity.  Alongside the standard honey sample, laboratories may choose to analyse two extra honey samples supplied by the JRC.  These materials are intended to support the interpretative assessment of sugars commonly used as authenticity markers.

The two supplementary honey test materials are intended for:

• Sucrose analysis
• Fructose analysis
• Glucose analysis

Participants will also be asked to provide an authenticity assessment for each sample, including whether it meets the laboratory’s own criteria and the basis for that judgement.

 Laboratories that would like to receive the additional honey samples should contact axiopt@LGCGroup.com 

 LGC AXIO are a partner of FAN and we continue to be grateful for their support alongside all our partners.

Photo by With Mahdy on Unsplash

It is difficult to distinguish fresh from defrosted lamb using a single analytical test.  In this study (open access) the authors propose a screening approach using Near Infra Red spectroscopy (set up online in a production environment) followed up by a panel of classical laboratory tests if required for further investigation including pH, colour parameters (L*, a*, b*), lipid oxidation (TBARS), cooking loss, and Warner-Bratzler shear force.

They used machine learning, feature selection and multivariate statistics to build classification models for each test.  The models were trained on samples from twenty crossbred lamb carcasses from various commercial butcher shops. The animals were intentionally sourced from different regions of Bangladesh to ensure genetic and environmental diversity among the samples. A total of 400 meat samples were collected from these 20 carcasses, with five anatomical cuts, loin, round, rack, leg, and breast, taken from each carcass. All samples were immediately placed in sterile, ice-filled containers and transported to the laboratory then evenly divided into two groups: 200 for fresh condition analysis and 200 for frozen condition analysis. All samples were first stored at 4 °C for 24 h to allow proper post-mortem muscle-to-meat conversion. After the chilling period, the fresh group was analyzed immediately, while the remaining 200 samples were stored at −20 °C for 30 days to represent the frozen condition.

The researchers report that classification models could be built using the “classical” laboratory tests alone but they introduced the risk of overfitting.  When an NIR classification model was added to the workflow as an initial screen this provided a more robust analytical approach.

[image from the publication]

This paper (purchase required) reports the comprehensive analysis of 437 standardized wine samples produced from six distinct grape varieties over a span of two decades (2002–2023).

The authors report that the grape variety was pivotal in shaping the composition of phenolic acids, flavan-3-ols, and anthocyanins. In total, 27 parameters were examined. The grape varieties Blauer Wildbacher and Blaufränkisch exhibited the most significant differences when compared to other red wine varieties. Furthermore, the phenolic profile showed the relationship between the varieties. The phenol content of the variety Zweigelt wines exhibited a stronger correlation with the vintages. The influence of the location on the phenolic profile could not be proven in most cases, except for the variety Blaufränkisch.

A comprehensive analysis encompassing all varieties, locations, and phenol analytes was conducted.  This revealed an increase in phenol concentrations over the period of vintages studied.

Photo by Kelsey Knight on Unsplash

FAN has a searchable index of where to find databases (either analytical signals or compositional parameters) of authentic food.  These are used as reference benchmarks for analytical authenticity tests.

We are in the process of updating this list.  As well as reference data sets for untargeted testing, which are typically held in-house by laboratories, we now include public datasets of benchmarked food composition; genetic data, lipid profiles, sugar profiles, aroma profiles, metals and minerals, composition of branded foods and many more.  If you know of a dataset that should be listed then we would love to hear from you.  Please contact secretary@foodauthenticity.global

This guideline (open access) provides practical recommendations for the preparation and analysis of solid and liquid food samples using stable isotope techniques.

Emphasis is placed on harmonized protocols for sample preparation, including drying, encapsulation, and homogenization, and on the use of internationally recognized isotope reference scales: Vienna Pee Dee belemnite (VPDB) for carbon, atmospheric air (AIR) for nitrogen, Vienna standard mean ocean water (VSMOW) for hydrogen and oxygen, and Vienna Canyon Diablo troilite (V‐CDT) for sulfur. Best practices for selecting and applying certified reference materials, multipoint normalization, correcting for instrument linearity, and uncertainty propagation using regression approaches are discussed. Quality control measures—such as blanks, replicates, and matrix‐matched standards—are essential to ensure reproducibility and interlaboratory comparability.

These guidelines aim to standardize stable isotope methodology in food science and support users in producing accurate, defensible, and globally comparable isotopic data.

The UK National Food Crime Unit provides a free periodic e-mail newsletter.  You can subscribe, and see back-issues, here.

The January 2026 issue has just been circulated.  It includes:

• impact of goat pox on authentic feta production and steps businesses can take
• horizon scanning
• NFCU Global Alliance update
• NFCU annual report
• report of NFCU operation against illegal bushmeat

The horizon scanning section highlights macro-economic pressures on supply of olive oil, cardomon, salmon and  wild caught white fish.

A key advantage of the Direct Analysis in Real Time (DART) mass spectrometry (MS) ion source is its ability to ionise the sample without the need for extraction.  In this study (open access), the authors compared DART with a previously-published extraction-based MS method to analyse key components in olive oil.

Having optimised and validated DART-MS, they then used it to build a discrimination model between different classes of edible oils.  They analysed a reference set of 80 samples from different regions of Greece (Crete, Peloponnese, Central Greece, and the North Aegean) to discriminate authentic extra virgin olive oil (EVOO).  These were from 10 oil categories including 35 EVOOs, 15 lower-quality olive oils (five of each category: refined, olive pomace, and ordinary), and 30 vegetable oils (five of each type: sunflower, corn, soybean, canola, sesame, and linseed).

They report that multivariate statistical analysis revealed clear discrimination of EVOO from other oils and enabled detection of EVOO adulteration down to 1 % with vegetable oils and 5 % with lower-quality olive oils. Key authenticity markers, including phenols, squalene, and triacylglycerols (TAGs), were identified.

They conclude that the proposed method demonstrates high potential for rapid, reliable EVOO authentication in routine quality control.

The EU forced labour regulations 2024/3015 have an implementation date on December 2027.  As well as prohibiting “'all work or service which is exacted from any person under the threat of a penalty and for which the person has not offered himself or herself voluntarily.' within EU member states, they also put a due diligence requirement on companies to check that such practices do not occur in their supply chain.  The way that Ireland have implemented the enforcement of these regulations (Irish Statutory Instrument 623 of December 2025) is typical.  The Irish law applies to businesses of all sizes, in all sectors, and includes requirements to

• Update compliance and training programmes: Governance and training programmes should be updated to educate procurement teams, in-house counsel, risk managers, and senior leadership on their obligations.
• Supply-chain mapping: Conduct supply-chain mapping to identify any products or parts that may fall under the forced-labour import ban.
• Due-diligence: Incorporate due-diligence measures into procurement, contracting and supplier oversight.

A practical example within the food industry would by the business-to-business supply of canned tomatoes.  At the moment, most companies’ supply chain mapping and VACCP assessments would take these back to their country of origin (e.g. “China”, which accounts for many of the tomatoes on the EU/UK b-2-b market).  However, these new regulations imply a due-diligence requirement to go further down the chain, to give assurance that the production is not linked to previous reports of Uyghur forced labour in the Xinjiang region.

Photo by Marwan Ahmed on Unsplash, (with no implication that this image shows forced labour)

In this study (open access) the researchers used a panel of three different DNA test protocols to verify the labelled species in dairy products sampled from Greek supermarkets over the winter of 2024.  They tested 74 samples in total encompassing cow, sheep and goat products. This included 15 different commercial brands of goat yoghurt, 7 brands of sheep yoghurts, 3 brands of goat kefir, and, samples of feta cheese and sheep-goat cheese from 16 to 11 different geographical origins and 7 brands of goat cheese were analysed.  The brands are anonymised within the publication.

They report widespread adulteration, particularly in goat yogurts (40 %) and cheeses (40 %), as well as in three kefirs and several mixed and whey-based cheeses. Notably, only 7 out of 17 - nominally goat - feta samples contained detectable goat DNA..

Image from the publication

While pH is known to vary between different variety of whiskies it lacks a statistically rigorous exclusionary standard to be used as an authentication marker for Scotch whisky.

This study (open access) addressed this gap by performing statistical distribution fitting analysis on the pH of 32 authentic single malt and 33 authentic blended Scotch whiskies on the market in Taiwan, utilizing the three-parameter lognormal distribution to establish the 99.7% authentic pH ranges for the first time: 3.47–4.46 for single malt and 3.73–4.67 for blended whisky.

 Validation using seized counterfeit samples confirmed that an abnormally elevated pH is a strong indicator of adulteration.

Consequently, this authors propose using a pH threshold as a rapid, non-destructive, and cost-effective forensic exclusionary criterion. Although the pH value feature alone is insufficient to confirm authenticity, it is ideal as a first screening test.

Photo by Ambitious Studio* | Rick Barrett on Unsplash

This study (purchase required) used, high-performance liquid chromatography, combined with chemometric analysis, to classify buffalo vs cows ricotta based on the profile of water soluble peptides.  The authors then identified specific peptides that could be used as species markers . Both mid-infrared spectroscopy and electrophoresis were also investigated as peptide measurement methods by were found to give insufficient discrimination, with IR overly affected by storage time of the extracts.

The authors created  11 experimental cheese formulations by increasing the proportions of cow whey mixed with buffalo whey. Water-soluble peptides were analysed using mid-infrared spectroscopy, high-performance liquid chromatography and electrophoresis. The data obtained from mid-infrared spectroscopy and high-performance liquid chromatography were statistically processed using principal component analysis, analysis of covariance and multiple linear regression..

High-performance liquid chromatography identified 14 peptide peaks, with three recognized as specific markers for cow whey in adulterated samples. PCA explained 77% of the variance, distinguishing pure and adulterated ricotta. Multiple linear regression modelling of high-performance liquid chromatography data predicted cow whey concentration with a correlation of R = 0.87. High-performance liquid chromatography with chemometrics was effective for detecting buffalo ricotta adulteration.

When applied to 14 commercial samples, the model suggested that nine contained adulteration ranging from 10% to 100% cow whey.

Photo by Conor Brown on Unsplash

In this study (open access) the authors report the development of a simple point-of-use extraction system and spectral imaging protocol.  It has potential as a point-of-use food inspection tool to check for species adulteration in processed meat.

Samples were macerated (approximately 200 mg) in 500 μL of sterile saline (0.9%). The extract was centrifuged. 2 μL of the supernatant from each sample was used to obtain the UV-Vis spectrum (180–800 nm; 0.5 nm intervals).

30 samples of each of four species (beef, pork, chicken and pacu fish) were used to develop and validate a classification model. Spectral data were preprocessed using standard normal variate transformation and analyzed using principal component analysis.  The authors report that this revealed distinct clustering, particularly for beef. Support vector machine algorithms were trained, achieving an overall accuracy of 89.3% in leave-one-out cross-validation and 86.1% in external validation.

Photo by amirali mirhashemian on Unsplash

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has launched new online guidance to help people buy and use food supplements with confidence, as many look to boost their health in the new year.

The FSA’s top tips for using supplements safely; 

• Check the label for dosage instructions and never exceed the recommended amount 
• Check safe levels of food supplements via the NHS website (Opens in a new window) and speak to your GP if you are considering taking higher dose supplements to ensure that you actually need them, and for advice on how long you should take them for 
• Speak to your GP or pharmacist before taking supplements if you are pregnant, breastfeeding, have a medical condition, or take prescription medicines 
• Be wary of online bargains – unusually cheap products may be counterfeit 
• Only buy from reputable sellers and take extra care buying from online marketplaces 
• If you feel unwell after taking a supplement, stop immediately and seek medical advice. 

Read full guidance.

This study (open access) compared four different test approaches (DNA barcoding rbcL, DNA barcoding matK , ITS2 barcoding vs the NCBI database, ITS2 barcoding vs the BOLD database) in an authenticity survey of 100 herbal infusions on the Portuguese market.  Samples included 94 single-species products and six polyherbal formulations.

The authors report that DNA extraction was successful for 94 samples, while six single-species products failed to amplify any of the tested barcodes. Among the 88 remaining single-species samples, ITS2 showed the highest amplification success (100 %), outperforming the barcodes rbcL (94 %) and matK (84 %).

Sanger sequencing confirmed the labelled species in 69.3 % of cases with rbcL and 48.9 % with matK. While 63 samples would be considered authentic solely based on barcoding (i.e., if either rbcL or matK matched the label), ITS2 metabarcoding revealed that many of these contained additional undeclared species, indicating that barcoding alone overestimated product authenticity. Of the 85 samples successfully analysed by ITS2 metabarcoding, only 27 (32 %) fully matched their label, while 58 (68 %) contained either additional undeclared species or complete substitutions. Several products contained undeclared species in significant proportions, indicating potential economic adulteration.

The authors conclude that their results revealed (i) the importance of curated and comprehensive databases, with a higher number of species being identified by NCBI database, (ii) the superior sensitivity of ITS2 metabarcoding, and (iii) the widespread mislabelling in commercial herbal products.

Photo by Alice Pasqual on Unsplash