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Shrimp is processed into culinary powder in many countries.  Only the abdomen of mature shrimp should be included. It can be adulterated with the thorax (head), other shrimp parts (including hazardous sharps), or illegally caught immature shrimps.

Researchers from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana, have published (link – purchase required) a study demonstrating the use of handheld near infrared spectroscopy (NIR) to detect adulteration. They developed models using tandem chemometrics and multiple spectral preprocessing with linear discriminant analysis.  They classified shrimp powder adulterated with milled immature shrimps at 0, 5, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, and 100% w/w with an average cross-validation accuracy of 93%, and achieved an accuracy of 98% for equivalent classification of milled shrimp head in shrimp powder. They used the model in the field for some preliminary surveillance testing and confirmed suspected shrimp powder adulteration in Ghanaian markets.

Photo by Indivar Kaushik on Unsplash

A recent systematic review (here – open access) covers DNA methods published 2015-2022 to detect game and unusual meat species.  It includes conventional RT-PCR, other amplification protocols and full sequencing.  The review is organised both by target species and by test method.  The authors make the point that there are tests published somewhere for almost every species but that when it comes down to practice most testing relies on RT-PCR for a limited panel of targeted species.  In Europe, particularly, there is still a strong emphasis on testing for undeclared horsemeat.  The most common “unusual” species included in targeted tests are buffalo, camel, deer, donkey, fox, mink, horse, rabbit, wild boar and yak.

Photo by Quaritsch Photography on Unsplash

Global consumption of quinoa flour has increased in recent years. It is a relatively high value product and potential adulterants (flours of cheaper grains or seeds) are visually identical. Adulteration is a risk. In this study (here – open access) portable hyperspectral imaging in the visible near-infrared (VNIR) spectral range (400–1000 nm) was applied as a rapid tool. The concept was proven using quinoa flour adulterated with wheat, rice, soybean, and corn in the range of 0–98% with 2% increments. Partial least squares regression (PLSR) models were developed, and the best discriminatory model selected. The model was improved by selecting only 13 wavelengths, rather than using the full spectrum, using bootstrapping soft shrinkage. A visualization map was also generated to predict the level of quinoa in the adulterated samples. The study proved the concept of using rapid and portable non-destructive VNIR as a screening tool for quinoa flour adulteration.

Photo cropped from HowToGym on Unsplash

Defra report FA0175 has been added to the links in the Research Outputs resources on our website.  This report gives an inventory of different tools and methods to manage the risk of food fraud and compares them with the factors that drive fraud.  Many FAN members contributed to this study.

https://www.foodauthenticity.global/research

(projects are tabulated in numerical order)

Digital systems and tools are evolving at a rapid pace so some of the specifics in the report are already out of date.  But the fundamentals remain pertinent.  The best food businesses and regulators employ a range of tools, covering everything from people culture to criminal justice records to ingredient specification databases.  The common denominator is a willingness to share information.

John Spink addressed FAN's most recent laboratory Centres of Expertise meeting on this topic and has kindly agreed to make a recording of his presentation available to FAN members.  Click on the image below to watch the recording.

John is a global thought leader on the subject.  This 25 minute talk explores how food companies should decide when and what to test, how testing fits into a holistic supply chain assurance strategy, and how laboratories and food companies can form strategic partnerships by understanding each others' issues and priorities.  It is well worth a watch for both laboratories and their customers.

In a recent column in Food Safety Magazine (free, but sign-up required), supply chain experts John Keogh,  Steve Simske and Louise Manning review the current state of the art in food supply traceability, the drivers for traceability improvement, and take a look into the future.  They discuss the increasing need for claims verification, particularly with regard to ethical production standards, as well as the need for rapid traceability in the event of a recall or safety alert relating to an ingredient.  Digitised traceability is a rapidly evolving field, and this article gives pointers to recommended best practice and guidance documents.

Photo by NASA on Unsplash

Thank you again to our member Bruno Sechet for formatting the JRC monthly summary of fraud reports as a graphic and allowing us to share it with you.

The full March 2023 summary from JRC is available here.  We encourage you to sign up for e-mail notifications when these are published.  They are a valuable free resource.

Three different articles have been published in the past month relating to analytical methods to detect fraudulent claims of Halal production.  Each method can be used to disprove a specific aspect of the Halal claim.

One verification requirement is a quick and obvious test for economically motivated adulteration with pork.  Researchers at South-Central Minzu University, China (link – purchase required) used isothermal amplification with CRISPR/Cas12a cleavage to target and measure a porcine-specific gene in nuclear DNA.  Use of nuclear DNA gave a linear calibration in a 25-minute point-of-use test allowing quantitation down to 5% of added pork.

Halal production also mandates the segregation of pork to avoid cross-contamination.  Detection methods are also needed that are sensitive enough to identify segregation failure.  Researchers from the Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (link – open access) reported a novel isothermal amplification technique, Polymerase Spiral Reaction, of mitochondrial DNA.  They reported good sensitivity, with a 65-minute point-of-use assay able to detect contamination down to 0.5% of pork in beef.

A third aspect is dilution with meat which has not been Halal slaughtered.  A perennial problem in many countries is the inclusion of meat from animals which died prior to their planned slaughter; termed “casualty animals” in Europe or “carrion meat” (or “tiren”)  in SE Asia.  A team from the National Research and Innovation Agency, Indonesia (Link – purchase required) have published a review of chemical, biochemical and physical markers that can be used to distinguish carrion meat from slaughtered meat. A panel of 14 parameters were selected that could form the basis of an Indonesian national standard.  They include malachite green-H2O2, correlated protein with meat texture, peroxiredoxin-6, blood biochemistry, blood pH, capacitance value, meat colour, Warner-Bratzler shear force, blood loss variation, meat quality, water holding capacity (WHC), resistance value, E. coli load, and coliform load.

 Photo by Syed F Hashemi on Unsplash

The authors of a recent study used LC/Q-ToF MS to profile the lipid composition (di- and triacylglycerols, DAGs and TAGs) of different edible oils.

From these profiles they have proposed a panel of 27 lipids that can be measured as a routine authenticity verification of camelina oil, hemp oil and flax (linseed) oil.  They have also identified 6 lipids that can be used as markers for adulteration of these oils with either sunflower, rapeseed or soybean oil.

The full article, with details of the markers, is available here (purchase required)

 Photo by Dan Cristian Pădureț on Unsplash

This presentation by Tabatha Hambidge (Research Scientist at the National Measurement Laboratory, LGC) provides an overview of the analysis of novel foods for the presence of CBD, which covers:

• What is CBD?
• How is CBD obtained?
• How does CBD differ from other cannabinoids that are controlled?
• How can we test for the presence of CBD in food supplements and other consumer products?

The e-seminar is intended for individuals working in laboratories that are testing CBD, the food industry and those involved with the UK official control system.

The production of this e-seminar was co-funded by the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Defra, the Food Standards Agency, Food Standards Scotland and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, BEIS via the Government Chemist, under the Joint Knowledge Transfer Framework for Food Standards and Food Safety Analysis.

This e-seminar has also been added to the Training section of this website.

 The recording for this webinar, which was held on 29 March 2023, is now available. .

A proof of concept study has been published that successfully used electrical capacitance measurement as a rapid, low cost, non-destructive test to verify the authenticity of edible oils.

 The authors, from the Singapore Agency for Science Technology and Research, report that they could directly screen for adulteration of Extra Virgin Olive Oil by capturing the differences in the dielectric properties of mixed oils. It exploits the different dielectric constants of different fatty acids.  The sensor system displayed a fast response (100 ms) and low detection limits for different adulterants (olive oil (32.8%), canola oil (19.4%), soy oil (10.3%) and castor oil (1.7%)), making it suitable for high-throughput or in-line screening. A low-cost automated system prototype demonstrated the possibility of scaling up this proof of concept for inline integration.  It was configured with a simple red (fail) or green (pass) LED display.

 The full open-access article is available here

The Food Fraud Prevention Academy is a group run out of Michegan State University by Prof John Spink, one of FAN's Advisory Board members.  The Academy offer a number of MOOCs (Massive Online Open Courses) in the fields of Food Fraud Prevention.  They have recently added a free course in Advanced Criminology

https://foodfraudpreventionthinktank.com/courses/food-fraud-prevention-advanced-criminology-mooc-ffca/

This new course provides an overview of Advanced Criminology and an introduction to the Food Fraud Incident Template. It was developed after a request from the private and public sectors because of the need for a standardized template and publicly available training.

The foundation of this course is the Food Fraud Incident Template, which is a simple survey that helps gather complete information – or clearly identifies what information is missing, unavailable, or unknowable.

The template is based on criminology concepts which are covered in other MOOCs from the Academy, including Intelligence Analysis, Food Document Fraud, and the Food Fraud Suspicious Activity Report (FFSAR).  The topic was developed during  INTERPOL/ Europol Operation OPSON meetings over the past five years.

The term Point of Contact (POC) testing relates to a mode of analytical testing that can be conducted at the point of sampling, with a minimal requirement for analyst training, providing easily interpreted results in real-time.

This e-seminar provides an overview of POC testing, describes the range of analytical techniques that have been adopted, and lists examples of current and emerging devices for use with POC testing; It has been added to the e-seminars part of the Training section.

The e-seminar is intended for individuals working in academia, the food industry and those involved with the UK official control system.

The production of this e-seminar was funded by the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the Food Standards Agency, Food Standards Scotland and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, BEIS, via the Government Chemist, under the Joint Knowledge Transfer Framework for Food Standards and Food Safety Analysis. Cofunding was provided by the Scottish Government's National Transition Training Fund programme in collaboration with the Manufacturing Skills Academy at the National Manufacturing Institute Scotland.

Since our inception in July 2015, we have been fortunate to have had Dr Mark Woolfe as our Secretary.

Mark has had a long and distinguished career applying science to Government food policy. He represented the UK in negotiations on EU food law and implementation into national food law ,and also in international food standards on numerous EU, BSI, CEN and Codex Alimentarius Committees. Mark was Head of the Food Authenticity Programme at the Food Standards Agency and was responsible for the creation of the food authenticity programme, which developed state of the art methods to authenticate food, enforce food standards legislation and prevent food fraud.

Mark has decided that it is time to retire from his role as Secretary of the Food Authenticity Network (FAN). I want to thank Mark sincerely for his hard work and dedication that have helped make FAN the success it is today. Although Mark is leaving the Secretary role, I am delighted to announce that he will remain part of the FAN team, becoming our Chief Scientific Advisor from 1 April 2023.

The new FAN Secretary from 1 April 2023 will be John Points. John’s background is as an analytical chemist and he has been working in the food measurement arena for over 30 years. John is an independent consultant advising food businesses on identification and mitigation of fraud and authenticity risks. John is the Chair of the Institute of Food Science and Technology (IFST) Scientific Committee, a member of the Society of Chemical Industry (SCI) Food Interest Group and is listed on the Food Standards Agency’s Register of Specialists for topics relating to food authenticity testing.

I look forward to working with John as our Secretary.

Selvarani Elahi

Executive Director, Food Authenticity Network

The Joint FAO/IAEA Centre of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture assists Member States of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the IAEA in using nuclear techniques and related technologies to improve food security, alleviate poverty and promote sustainable agriculture. The Joint Centre consists of five Sections, each with an associated laboratory (located in Seibersdorf, 45 km south-east of Vienna), in the areas of: animal production and health; plant breeding and genetics; insect pest control; soil and water management and crop nutrition; and food and environmental protection.

The Food Safety and Control Section and Laboratory assist Member States in ensuring the safety and quality of food and agricultural commodities through the development of analytical techniques and application of food irradiation, focusing on the use of nuclear and related technologies in the management of food and environmental hazards and on strengthening capacities for nuclear emergency preparedness and response in agriculture.

Main Purpose

As member of a team reporting to the Director of the Joint FAO/IAEA Centre, the Section Head ensures that the activities of the Food Safety and Control Section and its laboratory contribute to the Joint FAO/IAEA Programme relating to the improvement of food safety and quality and increased international food trade through the use of nuclear and related techniques, as well as preparedness and response to nuclear emergencies and radiological events affecting food and agriculture.

Role

The Section Head is:

1) a team leader, ensuring the efficient and effective management of assigned staff, physical and financial resources in line with quality management standards and a results-based approach;

2) a technical leader, leading a multidisciplinary team in the Section focused on ensuring the efficient and effective planning, development and implementation of programmatic activities, capacity building, technical support, policy advice for Member States, and information exchange as it relates to the Joint FAO/IAEA programme, and;

3) a technical officer, evaluating and providing technical management for technical cooperation (TC) projects, and providing technical support to coordinated research projects (CRPs) in the area of food safety & quality control.

Closing Date: 2023-04-27, 11:59:00 PM

Visit here for further information and to apply.

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

Do you have an authenticity database or datasets?

The Food Authenticity Network (FAN) is undertaking a project on ‘Open Data’ funded by its Government Partners, which seeks to collate of list of organisations that have food authenticity datasets i.e. assessed foods or beverages against a reference database of authentic samples. This could be any analytical, physical or sensory testing technique, or combination of techniques, that matches against patterns of multivariate data.

We are interested to know about both proprietary in-house reference databases and uses of shared data sets. We would like to include both laboratories offering a current testing service and research groups and others who hold data from previous projects.

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

If you have, or use, reference datasets for an “authentic” food or beverage and are willing for this to be signposted on the FAN website then please contact: OpenData@foodauthenticity.global

Thank you

Food Authenticity Network Executive Team

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)