In a move that customers have labelled very fishy, the Chinese government has ruled that rainbow trout can now be labelled and sold as salmon.

The seemingly bizarre move comes after complaints earlier this year that rainbow trout was being mislabelled.

In May, media reported that much of what was sold as salmon in China was actually rainbow trout, to widespread consternation from fish-buyers.

But instead of banning vendors from deceiving their customers, the China Aquatic Products Processing and Marketing Alliance (CAPPMA), which falls under the Chinese ministry of agriculture, has ruled that all salmonidae fish can now be sold under the umbrella name of “salmon”, reports the Global Times.

Rainbow trout and salmon are both salmonidae fish and look quite similar when filleted. However, salmon live in salt water and rainbow trout live in fresh water.

Read the full article.

New cereal based foods, particularly pasta, bread and biscuits, made with mixed flours containing ancient wheat species and other cereals, have become popular in recent years. This calls for analytical methods able to determine the authenticity of these products. Discrimination among closely related plant species, particularly congeneric ones like Triticum spp, remains a challenging task. Italian researchers have utilised and optimised a relatively new DNA fingerprinting method based on tubulin-based polymorphism (TBP) and a new assay, TBP light, for the authentication of different wheat and farro species and other cereals, and tested these on a set of commercial foods. The assay has a sensitivity of 0.5–1% w/w in binary mixtures of durum wheat in einkorn or emmer flour and was able to authenticate the composition of test food sample and to detect possible adulteration.                                     

  Read the abstract here

Italian researchers have made a preliminary study to use non-targeted metabolomic profiles to distinguish between PDO and non-PDO Grana Padano cheeses. Using ultra-high-pressure liquid chromatography coupled to quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometer (UHPLC/QTOF-MS) followed by chemometrics, a range of chemical metabolites - lipids (fatty acids and their derivatives, phospholipids and monoacylglycerols), amino acids and oligopeptides, together with plant-derived compounds gave the highest discimination potential between the two groups of cheeses. It is postulated that the PDO production specification rules drive the biochemical processes involved in cheese making and ripening process in a distinct manner, thus leaving a defined chemical signature on the final product.

      Read the abstract here

Aroma properties of spices are related to their volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which can provide distinct analytical signatures. Dutch researchers have examined the similarity and diversity of VOC profiles of six common spices (black/white pepper, chili paprika, cinnamon, nutmeg and saffron). The key volatiles were identified by PTR-TOFMS (Proton Transfer Reaction - Time of Flight Mass Spectrometry). Twelve samples per spice were subjected to PTR-Quadrupole MS (PTR-QMS) and Principal Component Analysis to compare the groups and examine diversity. With PTR-TOFMS, 101 volatile compounds were identified across all samples by their mass and comparing them with literature data Some spices comprised key character aroma compounds, e.g. cinnamaldehyde in cinnamon. Saffron and chili paprika showed distinct volatile profiles. Overlap in terpenic compounds is shown for pepper, cinnamon and nutmeg. The PTR-QMS in combination with variables selection resulted in distinct PCA patterns for each spice, which could be valuable for future authenticity studies.

     Read the abstract here

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In 2016/7, the DGCCRF( France's anti-fraud Directorate) conducted a large-scale survey to verify the labelling and declaration of the origin of imported wines, particularly from Spain. These controls were carried out across France at producers, importers, traders and distributors premises. A total of 179 establishments were audited in 2016 and 564 in 2017, specifically on the subject of foreign wines. 22% of the establishments visited in 2016 and 15% of the establishments visited in 2017 had labelling non-conformities including deceptive or false information and incorrect origin. While most wines were correctly labelled, there were several cases investigated where 2 - 3.4 million litres of wine (equivalent to 4.6 million bottles) of Spanish wine was sold in bulk labelled as French.

    Read the DGCCRF summary (in French) and the BBC article here

Product DNA is a system of electronically recording up to 150 attributes about a product, which are verified by a third party, and entered into a "catalogue" so it can be checked at any point in the supply chain and even incorporated into retailers own data systems, as well as accessed by consumers. Thus it can assure product traceability along the entire supply chain, and having an agreed set of attributes allows much easier data sharing between manufacturers and retailers.

Retailers Tesco and Ocado have already signed up to this service, and Unilever.and  Nestlé are the latest companies to do so.

 Read the article here

The European Parliament have approved a report recommending that manufacturers of branded products can add a logo to inform consumer that the product has the same composition and quality across all of the EU. This is in response to concerns that some branded products are different in quality in some Eastern European MSs to the rest of the EU. The Food and Drink Europe (representing food manufacturers) have welcomed the report, but noted that there can be legitimate reasons for differences in branded products across MSs based on consumer preferences, sourcing of local ingredients and reformulation requirements.

  Read the article here

Russian researchers have published a method based on sugar profiles to determine wine authenticity. The glucose-fructose Iindex (GFI) and disaccharide content can be used as marker for wine from different grape varieties. The method can detect when extra grape must has been added before fermentation, as well as wines from arrested fermentation. For sweet wines the glycerol content has to be measured as well. 

  Read the full paper here

Russian researchers have published a paper on their development of proteomic and peptide identification to identify pork, beef , horse and poultry in meat produced after slaughter. The methodology development can identify peptides which occur in specific tissues or fluids associated with meat species. The researchers are planning the next stage of using the peptide information of the raw materials to identify species in meat products.

  Read the full paper here

This is a short article in the Grocer, where Chris Elliott reviews all the activities in the UK that are trying to reduce food fraud and food crime. 

   Read the  article here

Spain’s National Police and Civil Guard have seized hundreds of tons of expired jamón (ham) and other meat products that were about to be placed back in the market, and in some cases, they were already back on sale.In three separate raids conducted over the course of a few weeks, officers found that individuals and companies were apparently tampering with seals and labels to extend the shelf life of expired food products. 

     Read the article here

JRC's Knowledge Centre publishes a monthly summary on articles and news about food fraud and adulteration, and has just published its June 2018 Newsletter. The top stories cover: adulterated Verdicchio wine in Italy;false buffalo mozzarella cheese in Benelux supermarkets; and investigations into the French spice market revealed 51% of all samples subject to fraud with saffron being the highest number of fraudulent samples. 

Read the June 2018 summary here

Coffee is currently the second largest commodity on the world market. Brazilian researchers have written a comprehensive review on the development and use of chromatograpy from paper to gas and hplc, and finally ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry to confirm adulteration and fraud in coffee.  

 Read the full review here

US-based technology and content solutions provider Decernis has acquired the Food Fraud Database from USP. USP's Global Strategic Marketing and Programme senior vice-president Salah Kivlighn said: “We are very pleased to have found an appropriate home for the Food Fraud Database, which hundreds of companies depend on to help support their efforts to prevent food adulteration". USP will continue to provide critical resources to help the industry, along with regulators and other stakeholders, verify the identity, quality and purity of food ingredients. The database is updated continuously with ingredients and related records, which are gathered from scientific literature, media publications, regulatory reports, judicial records and trade associations worldwide.

Read the article here

Polish researchers have published a paper on the development of rapid, simple, and non-destructive analytical procedure for discrimination and authentication of whiskies originating from Scotland, Ireland and USA  as well as time of maturation (two, three, six and twelve years). Combination of data from Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) with statistical analysis was used to construct eight discriminant models. The models obtained permitted whiskies from Scotland, Ireland, and USA to be distinguished from each other, and 2 and 3 years old beverages from 6 and 12 years old whiskies. Results show that 100% of samples were correctly classified in models discriminating American and Scottish whiskies or 2-year-old and 6-year-old American whiskies. American whiskies were classified correctly in all models, which may suggest its considerable chemical difference compared to whisky produced in Scotland or Ireland. 

  Read the full paper here

The EU Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) has assessed the counterfeiting losses for the wine and spirits sector, which was in the top five sectors for lost sales. The overall losses due to counterfeiting for 13 sectors amounts to Euros 60bn, corresponding to 7.5% of sales, and probably resulting in 434,00 less jobs because of reduced sales.

Read the article here

U.S. labelling laws require that only species of the family Ictaluridae can be marketed as catfish. The lower production price of Pangasiidae, combined with changes in regulations over time, have resulted in high potential for species substitution and country of origin mislabelling among catfish products. The objective of this study was to conduct a market survey of catfish products sold at the U.S. retail level to examine species mislabelling and compliance with Country of Origin Labelling (COOL) regulations. A total of 80 catfish samples were collected from restaurants, grocery stores and fish markets in Orange County, CA. DNA was extracted from each sample and tested with a real-time PCR Kit for Ictaluridae spp. Samples that tested negative for Ictaluridae were tested with real-time PCR Kit for Pangasiidae spp. DNA barcoding was used as a final test in cases where species could not be identified with either of the real-time PCR assays. Overall, 7 of the 80 (9%) catfish products were found to be substituted with Pangasiidae species, these were attributed to 5 of the 40 restaurant samples and 2 of the 32 grocery store samples. In addition, 59% of grocery store samples were not compliant with COOL regulations. 

   Read the abstract here

EU Regulation No. 1379/2013 states clearly that “the commercial designation of the species and its scientific name” must be shown whenever a fish sold along with its production method (wild or farmed) and where caught or raised. Fish traders in the port of Marseille were fined by Government fish inspectors sums varying from Euros 450 -1500  for not displaying all of this information including the scientific name.

However, the Mayor of Marseille related this occurrence to President Macron during a lunch with him last week. The President laughed and promised that the fines would not have to paid nor would the traders need to use the scientific (latin) names.

Read the article here

The new guidance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration aims to help food businesses understand and comply with the new Intentional Adulteration Rule, which comes into effect in July 2019. The IA Rule requires businesses to implement strategies to reduce the risk of intentional adulteration at food facilities that are particularly vulnerable.

The 94-page draft guidance, which is the first of three installments, includes chapters on the Food Defense Plan, vulnerability assessment, and mitigation strategies. The other installments will be released later in the year.

Read the full guidance here.