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Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) is the basis of an increasing number of onsite sensors for both food authenticity and food contaminant applications. However, its practical application to filament-type herbal materials such as saffron remains challenging, largely because their irregular surfaces hinder efficient sampling and lead to poor hotspot uniformity.

In this paper (purchase required, USD $36) the authors report a design modification that overcomes this hurdle.  They designed a template-assisted electrospun fiber membrane with well-ordered microcone arrays (EFM-OMA) as a flexible 3D SERS platform. They report that this architecture provides a highly repeatable nanoscale enhancement environment, enabling dense and uniform AgNPs-based hotspots across the entire substrate. This structure not only enhances electromagnetic coupling but also significantly improves molecular collection efficiency during swabbing of irregular solid samples.

They applied the sensor to adulterated saffron.  They report good sensitivity and signal reproducibility, meaning that the full-spectrum fingerprints obtained from the swab can be reliably analyzed using a Random Forest classifier, enabling accurate identification of dye-adulterated saffron. They report easy and pretreatment-free discrimination of pure vs dye-adulterated saffron.

Photo by Vera De on Unsplash

This paper (purchase required, US$ 38) reports the development of a point-of-use loop mediated isothermal (LAMP) assay to detect soybean adulteration in vegetable oils.

The LAMP primers of rtLAMP were designed based on the ITS2 sequence and further were used for validating the specificity and sensitivity.

The authors report that the LAMP primers of rtLAMP exhibited high specificity for amplifying soybean DNA extracted from oil samples, achieving authentication within 30 min at an isothermal temperature of 62 °C. The sensitivity of rtLAMP was 10³-fold greater than that of real-time PCR (1 ng) for soybean DNA detection. rtLAMP could detect down to 10% of soybean oil adulterated in the edible oil sample. Moreover, all commercial edible oil products were positively identified (6/6) using rtLAMP, whereas the real-time PCR only identified 4 out of 6.

For an overview of LAMP principles see our Analytical Explainers page.

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This review (open access) covers the main approaches for verifying tea traceability, including sensory analysis, stable isotope ratio analysis (SIRA), mineral element fingerprints, spectroscopy and mass spectrometry metabolomics, and emerging sensors.  The authors then discuss in some detail why some of these approaches are more – or less – applicable for different types of tea.

They argue that origin traceability of tea is not merely an analytical chemistry issue. The essential differences in the processing techniques of the six major tea types (green, white, yellow, oolong, black, and dark)  determine that the applicability boundaries of the same traceability technology may vary significantly among different tea types.

• The high-temperature kill-green process in green tea deactivates the polyphenol oxidase activity, preserving the original chemical fingerprint of the fresh leaves to the greatest extent.
• White tea undergoes the least processing intervention, and theoretically has the best traceability.
• The impact of the micro-fermentation process on the chemical profile of yellow tea remains to be systematically evaluated.
• Oolong tea’s withering and roasting processes result in a fermentation degree ranging from 10% to 70%, making the complexity of the chemical fingerprint’s interference from processing the most among the six major tea types.
• The full fermentation process in black tea converts a large amount of catechins into theaflavins and thearubigins, deeply reshaping the primary metabolite profile.
• The post-fermentation of dark tea, driven by microbial communities, triggers biochemical transformations that can last for months or even years, with the origin signal highly intertwined with factors such as the degree of fermentation, aging years, and tree age

Photo by 五玄土 ORIENTO on Unsplash

Food fraud has emerged as a significant and under-recognised public health threat, with documented global incidents resulting in severe illness, hospitalisations, and fatalities. International estimates suggest that up to 9% of the global food trade is adulterated.                                                                                                             

In South Africa, evidence of mislabelling, substitution, counterfeit products, illicit trade, and the use of unauthorised additives continues to surface, yet the national burden and regulatory response remain insufficiently characterised.This review synthesised peer-reviewed literature and articles from reputable South African media sources published from 2015 to December 2025, focusing on food fraud within the South African context. Searches were conducted across Web of Science (WoS), Scopus, and PubMed, supplemented by Google Scholar and the EU Food Fraud Database, with emphasis on studies reporting fraud associated with South African food products. Standard PRISMA procedures guided the final selection of fifteen (14) eligible articles.

These studies reveal widespread food fraud driven mainly by economic gain. Common practices include substituting high-value products, mislabelling meat and seafood, altering dates on expired goods, and producing counterfeits with unauthorised additives and packaging. Collectively, these factors compromise consumer health, undermine industry integrity, and impede effective surveillance. Strengthening South Africa’s food fraud prevention ecosystem will require coordinated multisectoral engagement, targeted investment in detection technologies, and robust regulatory reforms. 

Figure 1 of the paper shows a hazard-based ranking of food fraud concepts based on severity and potential public health impact. The model categorises seven common food fraud types, i.e., unapproved enhancements, substitution, dilution, concealment, mislabelling, counterfeiting, and grey market, according to their relative risk. Higher tiers represent a greater potential for consumer harm due to toxicity, allergen exposure, or deception, while lower tiers reflect economic or regulatory concerns with minimal direct health risk.

Read full paper here.

The latest EU Agri-Food Suspicions report, for April 2026, has been published here.  As with previous months’ FAN have produced a rolling 3-month graphic to visualise the relative prevalence and trends in the main issues.  These are regulatory reports from within the EU (as compared to the EU JRC monthly collation, which is based on global media reports) and are only suspicions.  Due to the phasing lag in the EU publishing their reports, our own graphic always just misses the FAN monthly e-mail bulletin.  However, one clear trend is that relative prevalences are remarkably consistent over time.

Trends and highlights from our analysis include. 

• Despite species substitution having the highest public resonance, it accounts for a relatively low proportion of suspicions.  Most are activities that have a low entry hurdle for potential criminals.  The highest proportion of suspicions continue to relate to illegal trade – for example, unlicenced operators or attempting to evade import checks – and to falsified traceability documentation or certification. 
• There appears a sustained gradual increase in cases relating to excess water in frozen seafood, fish, or chilled chicken (including analytical indicators such as excess polyphosphates).
• Suspicions can be raised as a result of mass balance checks – for example, in April, a number of cases where the volume of poultry despatched for transport did not match the volume delivered
• March saw a spike in undeclared sulphite preservative in dried fruit.  It is possible that this was the consequence of a targeted sampling campaign.
• One interesting nugget: clementines that were judged to be falsely branded as “Portuguese” not on the basis of any written pack-copy, but on the basis of a picture.

FAN also produce a free annual aggregate of "most adulterated foods" from three of the commercial providers, which gives very high level smoothed data based on global official reports.  Our 2025 summary can be found here.

 Our interpretation of the Agrifood suspicion reports is subjective. In order to show consistent trends we have excluded cases which appear to be unauthorised sale but with no intent to mislead consumers (e.g. unapproved food additives, novel foods which are declared on pack), we have excluded unauthorised health claims on supplements, and we have excluded residues and contaminants above legal limits.  We have grouped the remaining incidents into crude categories.  Our analysis is intended only to give a high-level overview

In this issue, we share our 2025 Global Food Fraud Report and updates to FAN resources, including a new searchable database of open-access research reports and our expanded index of authenticity databases.

We also reflect on key milestones in our 2025 Annual Highlights, and spotlight activities across our network, such as the CoE meeting in
March and improved CoE pages allowing easier access to experts. You’ll also find FAN-tastic contributions from across our community, which explore real-world fraud challenges and solutions, alongside updates from EFF-CoP project and the growing EU Cluster for Food Integrity and Trust.

As always, we welcome your feedback on what you’d like to see in future editions, and we encourage you to share this newsletter with colleagues who may benefit from FAN’s resources. Together, we can continue to improve transparency, protect consumers, and support a fairer, more trustworthy food system.

Read newsletter here.

This monthly highlights report has been produced for FAN members by one of our Partner organisations, iComplai.

The report is an AI-generated prioritised digest.  It is blended from online regulatory and media reports of food fraud incidents and suspicions, giving a summary of each selected issue and suggested mitigation steps.

iComplai are one of a number of commercial providers of digital horizon scanning tools, many of whom are signposted on FAN.  We do not endorse any specific company.  We are grateful to iComplai for providing this free digest which we hope you find useful.

If you know of a tool which would be beneficial to signpost to our membership, or if you are interested in becoming a FAN Partner, then please get in touch.

This paper (open access) recommends the use of sorbitol as an endogenous isotopic reference marker compound for the detection of C4-type sugar adulteration in apple juice.

Apple juice is traded mostly as concentrate because it is more efficient to transport and store than single-strength juice.  It is valued according to its Brix measurement.  There is therefore a motivation to add sugars (increasing the Brix) in order to – in turn – mask dilution. .  Most cheap commercial sugars originate from C-4 plants, and chemical components may therefore have a different carbon isotopic ratio to equivalent chemical components originating from the unadulterated apple juice

The authors present an improved analytical method which utilizes the naturally occurring sorbitol in apple juice as an isotopic reference marker. The method uses liquid chromatography coupled to isotope ratio mass spectrometry (LC-IRMS) to determine the δ¹³C values of the major endogenous sugars in apple juice.

They report  that the δ¹³C value of sorbitol can be measured in the same analytical run as the other major sugar components and remains unaffected by the addition of exogenous C4-type sugars to the apple juice.  A difference between the sorbitol's isotope ratio and that of other components is therefore an indicator of adulteration.

They conclude that this method offers significant advantages over existing approaches, notably by eliminating the need for extensive sample preparation and multiple analytical methods thereby improving both analytical throughput and ease of use.

The authors of this paper include scientists from two of the laboratories in FAN’s Centre of Expertise network; GfL and Fera Science.

Photo by Katrin Hauf on Unsplash

This paper (purchase required, USD$31.50) investigates trnL (p6-loop) metabarcoding to verify the origin of honey by its floral signature.  It is a proof of concept based on analysis of 20 Turkish honey encompassing blossom and honeydew honeys purchased from local markets in a variety of local regions.

In particular, the researchers investigated the advantages of pooling samples for such “floral fingerprinting”.  They report that pooling of samples increased diversity recovery (higher richness and Shannon index) and improved the detection of both dominant and rare taxa that can be underrepresented in single samples. The individually sequenced blossom honey confirmed key label taxa, while the pool provided a landscape-level botanical profile consistent with declared compositions across products.

This study (purchase required – USD$24.95) developed and validated a classification model using portable near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) to detect adulterants in butter. Seven adulterants were studied in a range between 2% and 100%: palm fat, margarine, and cottonseed, canola, sunflower, corn, and soybean oils. A total of 412 samples were analyzed, including 12 adulterated samples seized in an operation of the Brazilian Federal Police.

The authors report that their model performed an almost perfect classification, with the discrimination corresponding to key variables associated mainly with C–H (fat) bonds. This interpretation was corroborated by an exploratory principal component analysis (PCA) model. Samples seized by the Brazilian police were effectively detected as non-authentic. The estimate of quantitative parameters, decision limit (CCα) and detection capability (CCβ), for qualitative methods allowed to establish semi-quantitative models.

They conclude that this approach provides a practical, non-destructive, and environmentally friendly solution for food authentication, addressing the urgent need for reliable methods in combating butter adulteration.

Photo by Sorin Gheorghita on Unsplash

An interesting editorial blog from a UK legal firm on whether use of AI in internal company processes can increase risk of prosecution under the Failure to Prevent Fraud Act.

This UK Act enshrines a legal principle that is common to other anti-fraud law around the world.  Unlike traditional corporate criminal attribution, the prosecution does not need to establish that any senior individuals within the company knew about or were party to the fraud. Liability arises solely from the fact that a fraud offence was committed (by any “associated party”) that would benefit the company.

The defence is that a company took reasonable steps to mitigate fraud risks, including by its own employees and suppliers.  This is analogous to the “due diligence” defence in food safety law.

The argument here is that you cannot “outsource” this due diligence to AI.  This is because it is foreseeable that AI results will sometimes be incorrect.  In fact, if you use AI without human verification, you are weakening the due diligence defence and foreseeably increasing the likelihood of giving misleading statements.  This applies to relying on AI for everything from supply-chain risk assessments to drafting of company financial reports.

Photo by Tingey Injury Law Firm on Unsplash

This study (open access) investigated turmeric adulteration with lead chromate across five eastern Indian states through a combination of sample analysis and qualitative supply chain assessments. Lead chromate is a known adulterant of ground spices including turmeric, used to enhance the colour and therefore infer a higher quality or mask dilution.   The researchers collected 503 turmeric samples from 34 cities and conducted 128 stakeholder interviews between 2021-2023. In total, 30% of turmeric samples exceeded India’s permissible lead limit of 10 µg g⁻¹.

They also performed a population-level risk assessment and modelled the cost to India’s health system and economy, assuming the adulteration rate could be extrapolated across the region.  They concluded that halting the practice of turmeric adulteration with lead chromate could increase child IQ by up to 2.3 points, resulting in future income gains of US$ 239 million to 1.6 billion annually in the Bihar region alone. If cardiovascular disease mortality reductions are included, there would be an additional benefit of approximately US$ 430 million to 2.8 billion per year.

Photo by Tamanna Rumee on Unsplash

A recent California court ruling is a reminder that food companies must be cognitive of labelling laws in the country of sale.  In the US, this includes state-specific law.

This case related to a liquorice sweet labelled as “free from …. artificial colours and flavours”.  It included the declared ingredient malic acid.  At a US federal level (FDA) this is legal, because – although the form of DL-malic acid used was synthetic - malic acid is classified as a favour enhancer not a flavour.

Under California’s Consumer Legal Remedies Act (CLRA), however, claims of consumer fraud are judged by the “reasonable consumer standard,” i.e., whether a hypothetical reasonable consumer would likely be deceived by the defendant’s conduct.  The California court found that, in this case, the company had acted fraudulently in deceiving the consumer.

You can read the full judgement here

The National Food Crime Unit of the Food Standards Agency have published their latest industry update.  Included are:

• NFCU priorities through to March 2027:

1. Adulteration and substitution of lamb, beef and poultry products
2. Waste diversion including animal by product (ABP) handling within red meat, poultry, dairy and feed supply chains
3. Specific supply chains presenting high levels of authenticity risk to the UK
4. Maintaining a focus on illegal meat imports and continuing work on our mapped Organised Crime Groups

• Demand pressures on sacrificial meat as Qurbani 2026 approaches
• Supply pressure on pistachio nuts and raisins, increased risk of origin fraud
• Supply pressure on Atlantic cod, risk of species substitution
• NFCU self-assessment tool
• Key watchouts for beef fraud in the hospitality trade
• New Seasoning and Spice Association guidance on authenticity of herbs and spices.

You can sign up for these e-mailed industry updates, and see previous updates, here

Greece’s organic certification fraud was first revealed last year.  Problems were systemic.  Certification bodies and 3^rd party auditors were implicated, issuing site certification without the required inspection and falsifying audit and site visit records.  Two of Greece’s six certification bodies were suspended.

The fraud motivation was to claim undeserved farming subsidies.

Greece’s agriculture minister has now cancelled two key organic subsidy programmes for livestock and beekeeping, and suspended all applications, pending a full overhaul of the system.  Organic certification schemes are still in operation in Greece using the remaining four Certification Bodies.

See media report here.

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This study (USD$39.95 purchase required) reports a rapid and sensitive ultra-performance liquid chromatography-tandem triple quadrupole mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) method to detect adulteration of high-value camellia oil and olive oil with lower-cost sesame, soybean, and peanut oils.

Four characteristic markers-sesamin and sesamolin (sesame oil), 4′,7-dimethoxyisoflavone (soybean oil), and sativanone (peanut oil) were identified and quantified with high specificity.

The authors report limits of detection of 0.025%–0.10% for sesame oil, 1.0%–5.0% for soybean oil and peanut oil. Adulteration model experiments and method comparison analysis confirmed reliable multi-component adulteration detection in complex matrices.

Analysis of 106 commercial samples revealed adulteration rates of 16.0% (camellia oil) and 25.0% (olive oil), primarily with soybean oil. The analysis of two law enforcement samples confirmed adulteration with soybean oil, consistent with the official regulatory findings.

The authors conclude that this approach overcomes limitations of traditional methods.

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Conventional magnetic solid-phase extraction materials for DNA typically require multistep synthesis to coat functional layers onto an iron oxide core, which complicates their preparation and limits practical application.

In this study (USD$39.95 purchase required) the authors developed a magnetic ionic liquid-functionalized graphene adsorbent (G-MIL) that integrates the magnetic component and the functional modifier into a single material, thereby eliminating the need for a separate magnetic core and simplifying the synthesis process. This G-MIL material enabled the development of a rapid, one-step DNA extraction method that combines vortex-assisted dispersion and magnetic separation, effectively integrating isolation, enrichment, and purification without tedious centrifugation steps.

They optimised the method and applied it to the authentication of beef products.  They report good selectivity for bovine DNA in the presence of interfering proteins and amino acids. They report that their approach was successfully applied to the authentication of beef products, reliably distinguishing pure beef from adulterated counterparts.

Photo by Sangharsh Lohakare on Unsplash

In 2025 the agency US Fopd and Drug Agency tested 102 honey samples, including 54 domestic samples and 48 import samples. Test methods were primarily stable-isotope testing, so testing was focussed upon detecting syrup adulteration rather than necessarily origin fraud or floral mislabelling.  They report a violation rate of about 4% for both domestic products (2 out of 54) and imported products (2 out of 48). In the 2022-2023 assignment, the agency collected and tested 107 imported honey samples and found 3% of those samples to be violative. In 2021-2022, the agency collected and tested 144 imported honey samples and found 10% of those samples to be violative.  

More details can be found here.

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In this paper (£29.95 purchase required) the authors report the development of a point-of-use test for chicken adulteration (down to 1% w/w) in meat products.  They report that the test takes 40 minutes with a per-test cost of around US$1.

They used a swab-based sampling protocol coupled with a dedicated HPV10 nucleic acid releaser. They report that this approach enables efficient DNA release from swab samples within a brief lysis step while minimizing subsequent amplification inhibition. This simplified sampling strategy was further integrated with loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) and naked-eye colorimetric detection, resulting in a fully integrated “swab-to-result” platform.

They report that validation using commercially available meat products confirmed consistent and reliable detection performance at 1% w/w adulteration.

Photo by Scott Eckersley on Unsplash

Italy on April 15 gave final approval to a food and agriculture protection bill that creates new crimes, tightens penalties tied to company revenue and expands controls across the supply chain..

The legislation also strengthening administrative sanctions and coordination among inspectors.  It creates a new offense of food fraud.. The law also creates a separate offense for the trade of foods with false signs, a category designed to catch misleading labels.

The bill adds specific aggravating circumstances that warrant increased penalties. Among them is “agropiracy,” a term used for organized and systematic illegal activity in the food sector. Penalties are linked to company turnover.

The law also increases penalties for counterfeiting PGI and PDO designations. It also strengthens traceability requirements, with tighter rules on how products are identified and monitored

To improve enforcement, the law creates a coordination body for inspections.

More details are in this media report.