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Defra have approved the listing of 13 Centres of Expertise in Food Authenticity testing. Centres of Expertise are designated by self-declaration assessed against criteria set by the Authenticity Methods Working Group. Further information can be found at the links below:
FoodAuthenticity.uk is built on a social networking platform so that members can start discussions, participate, and receive updates and alerts on topics that interest them. To help members find out more about using the site we've published a set of hints and tips on using the site, controlling updates, how to contact other members and other features of the site.
To find out more, head over to the Hints and Tips page. Members will also find a link to the hints and tips page under the "My Page" tab on the menu.
Hi Food Authenticity Network Member
Please see the attached questionnaire which has been sent out under the CEN TC 275 banner the CEN Technical Committee which deals with horizontal methods of analysis for food. I shall have to put together a response for this on behalf of BSI and would be grateful for any comments that you might have on the questionnaire.
There are advantages to proceed along the lines being suggested, most notably a wider audience for any methods of analysis that the Network may put up (wider in that CEN is a European wide organisation, which you may regard as the European daughter of ISO for the moment). The disadvantage is that any methods issued as CEN Standards/Reports would then attract a charge.
Many thanks
Best wishes
Roger
(Chairman BSI AW/275)
CEN-TC275_N1526_Questionaire_Food_Authenticity.pdf
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Dr Roger Wood, Cringleford, Norwich, UK
I may be contacted at:
Mobile: 07725 419921
e-mail: roger.shirley@btinternet.com
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Major food adulteration and contamination events occur with alarming regularity and are known to be episodic, with the question being not if but when another large-scale food safety/integrity incident will occur. Indeed, the challenges of maintaining food security are now internationally recognised. The ever increasing scale and complexity of food supply networks can lead to them becoming significantly more vulnerable to fraud and contamination, and potentially dysfunctional. This can make the task of deciding which analytical methods are more suitable to collect and analyse (bio)chemical data within complex food supply chains, at targeted points of vulnerability, that much more challenging. It is evident that those working within and associated with the food industry are seeking rapid, user-friendly methods to detect food fraud and contamination, and rapid/high-throughput screening methods for the analysis of food in general. In addition to being robust and reproducible, these methods should be portable and ideally handheld and/or remote sensor devices, that can be taken to or be positioned on/at-line at points of vulnerability along complex food supply networks and require a minimum amount of background training to acquire information rich data rapidly (ergo point-and-shoot). Here we briefly discuss a range of spectrometry and spectroscopy based approaches, many of which are commercially available, as well as other methods currently under development. We discuss a future perspective of how this range of detection methods in the growing sensor portfolio, along with developments in computational and information sciences such as predictive computing and the Internet of Things, will together form systems- and technology-based approaches that significantly reduce the areas of vulnerability to food crime within food supply chains. As food fraud is a problem of systems and therefore requires systems level solutions and thinking.
http://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlehtml/2015/ay/c5ay02048d
D.I. Ellis, H.Muhamadali, S.A. Haughey, C.T. Elliott and R. Goodacre, Analytical Methods
Links to some key regulations for food authenticity control have now been added to the site: see the 'legislation' tab on the extended Policy and Law page.
Food manufacturers and suppliers need to ensure they are up to speed with new food safety standards, which have been introduced following ‘Horsegate’, says Michele Perrett at GlobalMeatnews.com
See http://www.globalmeatnews.com/Safety-Legislation/Suppliers-must-adhere-to-new-BRC-guidelines for the complete article
A recent US article drawing consumer attention to food adulteration issues says that "The food you’re placing in your grocery cart may not be exactly what it says it is."
Examples given include spices, olive oil, honey seafood, fruit juices and Parmesan cheese.
A new meat species authentication method designed for Halal food verification has been developed by scientists at the University of Münster, using a SCIEX QTRAP® 6500 LC-MS/MS system. BusinessWire reports that the method that can detect multiple species simultaneously.
The Food and Drink Federation have welcomed the creation and launch of the UK's new Virtual Food Authenticity Network, and have committed to support their members in the food authenticity testing they undertake. They have also produced a best practice Food Authenticity Guide. The announcement can be found on the FDF website.
A recent survey undertaken by professor Chris Elliott on behalf of Which? magazine has found that a quarter of 78 samples labelled as oregano contained other ingredients, in some cases forming up to 70% of the product.
Site members can also find a new member discussion on this issue on the site's discussion pages.
A recent article at FoodQualityNews.com reports on the outcome of a series of webinars, and comments on the increased vlunerability to fraud arising from the globalised food supply chain. See the article, Complex and globalized food supply increases vulnerability to fraud, for details.
A food and drink research firm has been chosen by the UK government to carry out authenticity. Authenticity testing is necessary to identify cases of fraud where olive oil is adulterated with inferior quality oils or other vegetable oils. See the Olive Oil Times article for more information.
A trial site based on the Ning social platform opened on 29 April. The complete IT solution is intended to provide the following features:
- Open access so that it is available to all stakeholders
- Interactive discussion board capability so it can be an open forum for discussion on current issues and knowledge exchange
- Ready access to material from knowledge transfer exercises, standard operating procedures for analytical methods, final research reports, scientific publications and other method related literature.
- A member’s only area or a “safe space” to help with discussion of new methods or problems was seen to be important to help facilitate the advancement of new scientific approaches and techniques through discussion and co-operation.
- News sections, including (for example) food authenticity alerts, information on new relevant publications etc.
The trial site will be open for up to two weeks in the first instance. If successful, it may form the basis for the live site.
