News

 A new FAO publication Thinking about the future of food safety – A foresight report, was released on Monday 7 March, outlining how major global drivers and trends will shape food safety in tomorrow’s world.

All food needs to be safe for human consumption; thus, appropriate food safety measures must form the core of food production in our agrifood systems. As agrifood systems are transformed to meet the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, there is need to develop and maintain a deep understanding of the future opportunities, threats and challenges ahead of us.

This foresight report explores the impact of major global drivers and trends on food safety, including climate change, changing consumer behaviour and food consumption patterns, new food sources and food production systems, technological advances, microbiome science, circular economy and food fraud:

Climate change: Increasing temperatures, changing precipitation patterns, unpredictable and severe extreme weather events, and others, are disrupting both food and nutrition security. This chapter of the publication describes the multi-faceted impacts of climate change on food safety by affecting the severity and occurrence of various food safety hazards – e.g., mycotoxins, algal blooms, foodborne pathogens. The chapter draws in information from published FAO reports on the topic – Climate change: Unpacking the burden on food safety (2020) and Climate change: Implications for food safety (2008).

Changing consumer preferences and food consumption patterns: Today’s consumers change their purchasing behaviours in response to a multitude of factors – from environmental sustainability and climate change to socioeconomic factors, as well as concerns regarding their own health and animal welfare. Changes in consumer diets also trigger changes in dietary risks arising from potential contaminants found in food. To continue to stay relevant and adequately protect consumer health, food safety risk assessment processes need to keep up with the changing consumer consumption patterns.

New food sources and food production systems are increasingly being explored with the goal of achieving improved environmental sustainability and/or nutritional benefits. “New food” here is meant to cover food that has been historically consumed in specific regions of the world but has recently materialized in the global retail space. “New food production systems” include recently discovered techniques and materials in the food sector. In this regard, the various food safety implications for edible insects, seaweed, jellyfish, plant-based alternatives, and cell-based food production are discussed under this topic.

Agriculture within urban spaces: Rapid urbanization, expansion of global cities and food security concerns are drawing attention to growing food within urban areas. While urban agriculture includes food grown both around and within urban spaces, in this publication the focus is on the latter or intra-urban agriculture. This form of farming comes in various forms, from backyard gardens and community farms to innovative indoor vertical farming approaches (hydroponic, aeroponic, aquaponic). Some key food safety concerns associated with intra-urban agriculture, arising from soils used, water sources, air pollution, and various other chemical hazards are discussed as well as the importance of establishing adequate regulatory frameworks specific to urban food systems.

Exploring circular economy through plastic recycling: Increased attention to environmental sustainability and depletion of natural resources have put emphasis on the concept of circular economy, which is being explored in various sectors of the agrifood systems. The topic of circular economy and the various food safety considerations are explored in this publication through the example of recycling and reuse of plastics, in particular those that are in contact with food, such as food packaging.

Microbiome science: Microbiomes (includes all microorganisms – bacteria, viruses and fungi – that live within the human gut and around us) in agrifood systems and along the food chain are not isolated and can interact with each other. The human gut microbiome sits at the end of the food chain and therefore, is exposed to both biological and chemical contaminants present in the diet. Emerging and still evolving technologies have enabled the study of microbiomes and the interactions with their ecosystems, thereby offering opportunities to utilize this knowledge for improving food safety risk assessments and subsequently consumer health.

Technological innovations and scientific advances: Emerging technologies in food production, processing, distribution and at the retail level are providing better tools for increased food safety along food chains by improving traceability, greater detection of contaminants in food, better outbreak investigations, and reduced vulnerabilities for food fraud. A few such emerging technologies – nanotechnology, intelligent packaging, Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence, 3D printing of food, among others – are outlined in the publication while discussing both opportunities and challenges that come with them.

Food fraud: The issue of food fraud tends to evoke a strong response among consumers with current narrative focusing on the widespread and ever-increasing prevalence of the issue. However, food fraud is a complex area and the publication highlights this complexity and attempts to shift the narrative to discuss the concept of trust built into food control systems.

Access the publication here

https://doi.org/10.4060/cb8667en

The Global Harmonization Initiative's (GHI) Whistleblower Food Safety Incident Report Site is now available in over 30 languages at: https://whistle.globalharmonization.net to anyone, in any country, who works in the food and beverage industry.

Until now, there has never been a global reporting system for food safety concerns that is really anonymous. As a deterrent to unscrupulous food suppliers, the GHI first launched the Whistleblower Food Safety Incident Report site in August 2021 in English, and it is now available in over 30 languages. 

GHI ask people to report if they are aware of anything that is wrong with food to the extent that consumption may cause serious harm and they see no other way to prevent such harm. GHI will then evaluate the incident and act upon it in the most appropriate way. The facts provided will be checked to judge if the incident:

1. is real and can indeed do serious harm to people's health
2. or:
   • is intended to defame a company or individuals
   • is intended to take revenge
   • is due to misplaced humour.

Anyone who chooses to report an incident can be assured that their report is anonymous – in fact, even GHI does not know who has submitted a report. This is to protect the identity of whistleblowers. 

This is Tenet's quarterly publication helping in house counsel and those from a science background assessing food safety keep up to date with current and emerging fraud related risks.

If you work in the food and drinks industry and take an interest in fraud and financial crime impact in the sector, please take a look at the 3rd issue of The Secret Ingredient.

safefood's role is to promote awareness and knowledge of food safety and nutrition on the island of Ireland. To do this safefood:

• Provide healthy eating and food safety advice to the public
• Carry out research into food safety
• Promote scientific co-operation and links between laboratories
• Provide independent assessment of the food supply
• Carry out surveillance of diet-related disease.

safefood has produced a guide for food manufacturing businesses to help protect their businesses from food fraud.

The guide is open access and is available at Protect your business from food fraud | safefood

The Food Authenticity Network Team is delighted to note that the Food Authenticity Network is cited as one of the resources!

The safefood guide has also been placed in the 'Guidance tab' of the 'Tools and Guides section' of the Food Fraud Prevention part of this website.

In this article, applications of several analytical techniques such as DNA-based techniques, spectrometric techniques, spectroscopic techniques, chromatographic techniques, lateral flow immunoassays, and neutron and proton based nuclear analytical techniques for forensic food analysis are discussed. These techniques are capable of analysing food samples rapidly, and permit the identification of authenticity markers, which are essential in uncovering food fraud. In addition, authenticity analyses of dyes in food, seafood, plant-based food, beverages, and forensic analysis of postmortem viscera are reviewed. 

Read the abstract here

The European distribution fraud (EDF) questionnaire has been created by the National Food Crime Unit (NFCU) for the food industry to help fully understand potential vulnerabilities regarding EDF.

The NFCU would like to invite you to complete this questionnaire as the data captured will help in the development of bespoke materials to address these issues and share best practice amongst industry allowing food businesses to potentially develop/implement procedures to protect themselves from EDF.

The questionnaire should take no more than 10 minutes of your time. All submissions are anonymous unless you choose to provide your companies name within the questionnaire. If you have any issues accessing the questionnaire or would like to give more information after completing the questionnaire, please send an email to NFCU.Prevention@food.gov.uk 

Questionnaire Link.

Seven meat companies have been investigated by the Guardia Civil in 5 areas of Spain. The investigation began after an inspection of a food shop revealed anomolies mainly in the labelling of Iberian ham, some of which was not fit for human consumption. After widening the investigation, some 29,000 meat products, including 19,600 Iberian hams, and ham shoulders, with a total value over Euros 1 million were impounded by the Guardia Civil. 

Read the full article 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 UK Government Chemist team, hosted at LGC, has recently had two significant scientific papers published in Nature Portfolio Journal, npj-Science of Food, highlighting the increasing complexity of honey authentication.

The papers (Honey authenticity: the opacity of analytical reports - part 1 defining the problem; and part 2, forensic evaluative reporting as a potential solution) are based on a story that appeared in the UK media in November 2020 - Supermarket brands of honey are 'bulked out with cheap sugar syrups made from rice and corn’ – after which the Food Standards Agency asked the Government Chemist to investigate the methods that underpinned the story.

The papers address the complex composition of honey, and how an interpretive system used in forensic science could help to improve evaluation of analytical findings and assessment of their strength, which, in turn, can help to make authentication of honey more robust.

The authors propose the adoption of ‘evaluative reporting’, which would see the acceptance of a formalised ‘likelihood ratio’ (LR) thought process used in forensic science for evaluation of findings and assessment of their strength. In the absence of consensus on techniques for honey authenticity, adoption of evaluative reporting will allow objective assessment, with equity to all, and a better basis to identify and address honey fraud.

Organic crop production is a system requirement covering many aspects of its production. One main feature, which distinguishes organic from conventional production is the prohibition on the use of synthetic fertilisers, which are produced from atmospheric nitrogen by the Haber process, and the resulting nitrate is high in ¹⁸O and low in ¹⁵N. Isotopic measurement of nitrate extracted from plant foods can indicate which fertilisation system has been used. This requires a bacterial reduction, which is costly and can only be done by specialised laboratories. Research scientists at IAEA have developed a rapid, low-cost method to measure N and O isotope ratios using a one-step Ti(III) reduction to convert the nitrate to N₂O gas for headspace isotope analysis using IRMA (isotope-ratio mass spectrometry). The new method was developed and tested using organic and conventionally grown Spanish strawberries, where the extractable nitrate N and O isotope ratios and the chemical composition were measured followed by chemometric analysis, and which revealed that the δ¹⁸O of nitrate along with δ¹⁵N and Ca²⁺ fully differentiated organic from conventional strawberry production. 

Read the abstract here

Basmati rice is the largest selling type of rice on the UK market because it is valued for its aroma and cooking properties. Although the geographic origin of Basmati is protected, the definition of Basmati is not protected in law in the UK, and its protection has been achieved through an industry and enforcement authority Code of Practice. When the first Code was published in 2005, there were 15 rice varieties mainly landrace varieties, which could be labelled as Basmati. A DNA  assay using single sequence repeats (SSRs or microsatellites) was developed to authenticate Basmati varieties and distinguish them from non-Basmati rice on a qualitative and quantitative basis. However, since 2005 both India and Pakistan have been plant breeding Basmati for disease resistance, salt tolerance and better yield such that the Code of Practice was amended to include an extra 25 varieties of Basmati rice in 2017. As the genetic diversity of these new varieties is greater than the original set of Basmati varieties, the SSR assay originally developed could no longer be used, and a project was commissioned to develop a more appropriate set of DNA markers.  

Using the results of a previous project to select markers from new information from whole genome sequencing of Basmati and non-Basmati varieties, a new approach using a PCR based genotyping technology called KASP (Kompetitive Alelle Specific PCR) was developed. A sub-set of 69 DNA KASP markers (out of an original 327) was successfully found to be able to distinguish between most of the 60 varieties tested, including some pairs of varieties that could not be distinguished using previous technique. The project has demonstrated that KASP assays are a feasible approach to distinguish between Basmati and non-Basmati varieties. The report suggests further work that would be needed to optimise and improve the reliability of the KASP assay technique (e.g. more replications and better samples of DNA to find more markers), this could then be used to design and develop a cost effective, fit for purpose method that can be applied by enforcement labs to verify labelling of Basmati rice.

Download the full report here

Information on the geographic origin of milk is important in determining quality attributes, and for economic gain through building brand value associated with origin. Stable isotope signatures and trace element concentrations are being increasingly used to authenticate milk, though information on the suitability of such technology to verify the agroclimatic origin in small continents with diverse climatic, environmental conditions, and animal management practice is scarce. The objective of this study was to investigate the possibility of using a stable isotope composition of C, N, O, and H and elemental fingerprints to determine the origin of milk produced in different agroclimatic zones of Sri Lanka.Stable isotopes ratios of C, N, H, and O, and elemental fingerprints of milk samples were determined by IRMS and ICP-MS, respectively. Significant variations were observed in stable isotope ratios, especially δ18O and the mean content of Li, Al, Cr, Mn, and Sr in the bulk milk samples obtained from different agroclimatic zones. A linear discriminant analysis differentiated cow milk produced from four agroclimatic zones based on stable isotope ratios, and the inclusion of elemental ratios enhanced the discriminating ability. 

Read the full open-access paper here

A paper has been published, which reviews eight major #foodfraud #incidents and developed a framework to recognise the stages and nuances of a food-fraud 'scandal' narrative.

View full paper.

The Joint Knowledge Transfer (KT) Framework Programme is a jointly funded cross-government (Defra/Food Standards Agency/Food Standards Scotland/Government Chemist) programme for knowledge transfer, aimed at:

•Creating better value for money by maximising resource use and delivering more sustainable and efficient approach to knowledge transfer
•Building analytical laboratory capability to respond to future food safety and fraud incidents
•Continuing to support delivery of the response to the 2014 Elliot review into the integrity and assurance of food supply networks following the 2013horse meat incident.

The report of the KT programme describes the activities undertaken during the first three-years, 2017 to 2020. The Deliverables of the programme included single day workshops, electronic seminars (e-seminars) and a set of work instructions as follows:

1. E-seminar on an introduction to designing quantitative PCR assays
2. E-seminar on an introduction to the digital polymerase chain reaction
3. E-seminar on DNA melting curve analysis
4. E-seminar on an introduction to quantitative PCR assay optimisation
5. E-seminar on Using service providers to undertake NGS analysis
6. E-seminar on an introduction to quantitative PCR assay validation
7. E-seminar on the Food allergens risk assessment, Part 1
8. E-seminar on an introduction to GMO detection
9. E-seminar on Fish speciation inclusive of the Label fish project
10. Workshop on an analytical roadmap for detecting allergens in spices
11. Workshop on the Evaluation and assessment of jelly mini-cups

The report is available here, and most of the above e-seminars and the workshop on allergens can be found by clicking the website Training tab.

Food and You 2 is a biannual survey which measures self-reported consumer knowledge, attitudes and behaviours related to food safety and other food issues amongst adults in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland.

The survey is primarily carried out online using a methodology known as ‘push-to-web’.

Fieldwork was conducted between 28 April 2021 and 25 June 2021. A total of 6,271 adults from 4,338 households across England, Wales and Northern Ireland completed the survey.

Topics covered in the Food and You 2: Wave 3 Key Findings report include:

• Confidence in food safety, authenticity and the food supply chain  
• Concerns about food  
• Food security
• Food shopping and labelling 
• Online platforms 
• Food-related behaviours and eating habits.

Read final report and technical report.

DOI https://doi.org/10.46756/sci.fsa.ejl793

This article by Indian researchers reviews the methods that have been published to authenticate muscle foods (meat, seafood and their products). As well as the well known approaches, such as SDS-PAGE gel-electrophoresis, mass spectrometry based proteomics and metabolomics, NMR, and other spectroscopic  methods. The authors highlight other less well known approaches, such as different protein fractionation techniques, including OFFGEL ( pre-fractionatio of peptides into discrete liquid fractions) and GELFrEE (Gel-eluted liquid fraction entrapment) electrophoresis fractionation, two-dimensional gel electrophoresis, and the application of lateral flow assays for in-situ testing.

Read the full open access article here

1. Job Purpose

LGC’s National Laboratories, based in Teddington, deliver a range of expert science functions and services in partnership with the UK Government, business and academia. The business unit manages and operates several national laboratories on behalf of government agencies, as well as hosting the unique function of the ‘Government Chemist’.

 As home to many world-leading scientists, LGC’s National Laboratories provide a wide range of expert analytical science services and subject matter expertise to a broad spectrum of customers, stakeholders and global forums.

 This role is an exciting full time opportunity to work across several externally facing networks; including the Community for Analytical Measurement Science and the Food Authenticity Network. Both are membership based communities aimed at promoting world-class analytical measurement science training, research and innovation by bringing together a network of industrial and academic partners with interests in these fields.

2. Key Responsibilities

• Delivery of network co-ordination activities, ensuring the smooth day-to-day running of virtual communities.
• Organise and facilitate virtual and in-person events.
• Co-ordinate Secretariat activities.
• Support note taking, recording meeting actions and decisions.
• Co-ordination of network finances, liaising with Legal and Financial Leads, as well as network members.
• Prepare stakeholder updates and digital content.
• Facilitate marketing, website and social media channel activities.
• Actively support network growth, championing activities in-keeping with networks’ strategic aims. 

3. LGC Values

The job holder will be able to demonstrate the following behaviours in line with LGC’s values:

• Passion: desire to promote and champion network aims and activities.
• Integrity: a deep seated belief in the importance of customer satisfaction and providing a professional and valued service.
• Curiosity: always striving to improve ways of working and delivering efficiencies that benefit both individual members and the broader network/community. 

4. Person Specification - Knowledge, Experience and Technical Skills

LGC is seeking an organised and personable individual, with a strong work ethic and self-motivation. The individual must have a can-do attitude, taking ownership and responsibility for driving outcomes.

As the successful candidate you will be able to demonstrate evidence of having/being:

• Prior experience (ca. 3 years) of network and/or project co-ordination.
• Able to engage professionally with a wide range of members and stakeholders.

• Comfortable working as part of an in-person and virtual team.
• Well organised with an excellent eye for detail.
• Able to multi-task and prioritise work to meet deadlines when required.
• Strong IT (Microsoft Word, Excel, Powerpoint) and communications skills – both written and verbal.
• Experience of arranging and hosting events (both virtual and in-person).

Also desirable: Experience of web/social media design, editorial skills and producing various forms of digital content for professional purposes.

If you feel you have the skills and experience to succeed in this role, and are excited by the opportunity, we’d welcome your application. Please submit a 2 page CV and covering letter - outlining why you would like to join the team - via the LGC recruitment portal: https://lgcgroup-jobs.sabacloud.com/Saba/Web_spf/EU2PRD0129/jobs-careers/career/home/

A new POSTnote on genome edited food crops has been published by the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology with contributions from Dr Malcolm Burns (Head of LGC's GMO unit), Dr Julian Braybrook and our Executive Director, Selvarani Elahi MBE.

◼ The Government is proposing that genomeedited crop plants are exempted from Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) regulations, provided the genetic changes could occur naturally or via existing conventional breeding techniques.
◼ Genome editing can manipulate DNA atspecific positions in the genome to shorten timeframes for plant breeding of useful traits. This process can lead to unintended alterations of the genome, but these may be fewer than for conventional breeding.
◼ Some stakeholders believe this regulation change for genome-edited food crops could provide health and environmental benefits and make use of UK-funded research.
◼ Key issues for public acceptance and trust of genome-edited crops are tightly bound to transparency and how the public view potential risks and benefits.

Read the full POSTnote.

For 2021, the Network's Executive Team have prepared a poster style Annual Summary of Network activities, which has been agreed by the Network's Advisory Board. The summary contains the progress in becoming a global network, including the activities of the Team and Chair of the Advisory Board in global standards organisations and national and international events. It summarises the new content put on the website in terms of news items and events. In other activities, a review of global food fraud definitions was undertaken and published on the website, and 3 new Centres of Expertise (CoE) have been added to the network of CoE laboratories.

You can download the Summary here

This article by Bruker BioSpin looks at the work of the Food Authenticity Network, and how it fits in with tackling the increasing problem of food fraud. It is taken from a webinar, at which Will Souter interviewed the Executive Team of the Network and Sterling Crew, the Chair of its Advisory Board. The article not only describes what the Network has to offer, but it looks at other organisations that have been set up to fight food crime. 

Read the article here