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This review investigates the feasibility of different non-destructive techniques used for authenticating meat products, which could provide real-time monitoring in the near future. The spectroscopic techniques reviewed are NIR (near infrared), MIR (mid-infrared), FTIR (Fourier transform infrared), and Raman. The imaging techniques discussed are colour imaging, hyperspectral imaging and Xray imaging with computed technology. The advantages of these techniques is that they can be applied in-situ, and they give rapid results, but calibration procedures are laborious. In addition, the results are influenced by scanning times, sample to detector distance and environmental factors such as ambient temperature, humidity, illumination conditions, and sample temperature, the latter can differ in meat processing facilities. However, it is hoped that the application of these techniques will be easier with the improvement in instrumental technology, the availability of high-speed computers with appropriate storage capacity, and the development of appropriate chemometric procedures.

Read the full paper here

Aromatic peanut (groundnut) oil (APO) is produced from roasted peanuts, and hence has stronger peanut aroma than refined peanut oil. It is popular in Chinese, Indian and SE Asian cuisine. Chinese researchers determined the tocopherol content of APO and 4 refined vegetable oils (soybean, sunflower, maize, and rapeseed oils) using hplc with UV detection. The tocopherol isomer content, especially α and γ tocopherols, were found to be the most suitable markers to disciminate between APO and the 4 vegetable oils. In addition, APO was mixed with the 4 oils (at the levels of 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25 g/100 g, w/w) to determine whether the tocopherol analysis is a better approach than fatty acid profiling for detecting APO adulteration. The results showed that for tocopherols, the detection limits were 5 g/100 g for soybean oil and 10 g/100 g for other three oils in APO, showing a higher sensitivity than fatty acids profile based method for detecting APO adulteration.  

Read the abstract here

The International Hologram Manufacturers Association (IHMA) claim that a new development of edible holograms could help food integrity and prevent fraud. This follows a report that US scientists have been able to embed edible holograms into chocolate. These are made from a thin film of a dried solution of glucose syrup, vanilla and water, which is coated with a fine layer of non-toxic black dye. The dye is etched off using direct laser interference patterning, leaving raised nanoscale lines, which act as a diffraction grating and produces the image or information visible on the hologram. Whilst the development only works for certain types confectionery, it has opened up a host of opportunities and innovations in the control and labelling of food.

Read the article here

The Food Standards Agency is reiterating its advice to the CBD industry to submit their novel food applications and move towards compliance with novel food regulations. Companies with suitably validated applications should then be able to continue selling their products in England and Wales until they have been considered by independent scientific committees and a decision on authorisation has been made. 

The criteria for products which can remain on sale from 1 April 2021 has been updated. Previously, only products which were on sale at the time of the FSA’s announcement (13 February 2020) and were linked to an application which had been validated by 31 March 2021 were to be included. To maximise the opportunity to pass validation, this now includes all products linked to an application submitted before 31 March 2021 that is subsequently validated.

Businesses wishing to sell their products in Britain should submit their novel food applications via the new Regulated Products system which is jointly operated by the Food Standards Agency and Food Standards Scotland.

The European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) has published its February 2021 Food Fraud Monthly Summary reporting food fraud incidents and investigations from around the world. 

Thanks again to our Member Bruno Séchet for creating this  infographic and allowing us to share it with the rest of the Network

Read the February 2021 Summary here

The National Food Crime Unit (NFCU) has developed this food fraud resilience self-assessment tool to support businesses in developing and implementing their counter-fraud strategy.

The self-assessment tool covers different areas that businesses will need to be aware of so that they can better identify and address process issues.

The tool is made up of 7 sections and provides advice for countering food fraud. These questions will help you to evaluate your business and identify areas for improvement. The tool will not provide you with a final score.

This can be completed anonymously and any data submitted will not be collected in a way that could identify you. The tool should take no more than 15 minutes to use.

 If you have further questions for the NFCU Prevention Team, or would like support in building your business's fraud resilience, provide your email address at the end of the tool or contact us directly at NFCU.Prevention@food.gov.uk.

Access the NFCU's food fraud resilience self-assessment tool here.

Crustaceans are high value foods with a high incidence of species substitution. German researchers have developed a multiplex RT-PCR (real-time polymerase chain reaction) assay to identify four important commercial crustaceans - giant tiger prawn (Penaeus monodon), whiteleg shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei), Argentine red shrimp (Pleoticus muelleri), and Dublin Bay prawn or scampi (Nephrops norvegicus). The specificity of the assay was confirmed by testing more than 30 crustacean species, and the performance of the method was evaluated with varyingly processed crustaceans, as well as with commonly used spices and herbs. 

Read the abstract here

Italian researchers have developed a novel assay for DNA sensing of genetically modified (GM) soya based on the use of magnetic microbeads functionalised with PNA (peptide nucleic acid) probes and a subsequent read-out on screen-printed electrode (SPE) substrates. The PNA probes bind to a complementary DNA target extracted from non-amplified genomic DNA from GM Roundup Ready soya. The microbeads are then separated using a magnet and visualised on the screen to enable discrimination between the GM and the non-GM soya. The method was validated by comparing the results to other DNA assays requiring preliminary amplification of target DNA via PCR (polymerase chain reaction).

The ability of the magnet bead assay to detect the presence of Roundup Ready soya DNA sequence was tested on genomic DNA extracts from European Reference Material soya flours, demonstrating the capability of the method to match the European Union regulation for labelling of food containing a percentage of GM products greater than 0,9%.

Read the abstract here

The European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) has published its January 2021 Food Fraud Monthly Summary reporting food fraud incidents and investigations from around the world. Thanks again to our Member Bruno Séchet for creating this  infographic and allowing us to share it with the rest of the Network

Read the January 2021 Summary here

China's State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) has issued warnings to consumers about the safety of certain fermented foods following a severe food poisoning incident in Heilongjiang province last year when nine members of a family died after consuming home made fermented maize noodles. The cause of the fatalities was a respiratory toxin produced by Pseudomonas cocovenans. There were other severe local food poisoning outbreaks from other home made fermented corn noodles, fermented rice noodles and an edible fungus. Hence, SAMR have warned against consumption or sales of home made fermented products.

The Chinese Ministry of Public Security issued data on 1,400 cases of counterfeit food investigated from May to November 2020, and thought that the move to online shopping made fraud easier. There are two types of fraud. One type is registering a trade mark very similar in name of a branded product to cause some confusion when purchased by the consumer. The other is the direct counterfeiting of a label of a branded product. As an example of the latter, Penfolds wines have been the victim of counterfeiting in China for some years and which is thought to have been worth almost US$ 20million. 

Read the article here

This article summarises the authenticity analytical approaches (based on building blocks of food) to identify the most suitable procedures to prevent food fraud. The methods described are not exhaustive, but cover the majority of approaches that are currently
undertaken. In particular, DNA methodology, proteomics, chromatographic methods and stable isotope ratio analysis are discussed.

Read the full article here

This study used DNA barcoding to identify fish species and microbiome profiling  to study the presence of pathogens. Between February 2018 and October 2020, 127 fish samples were collected from restaurants (83 samples), and the remainder (44 samples) from hypermarkets, supermarkets, markets, seafood wholesalers/retailers, and fishing harbours. The microbiological analysis was undertaken because most of the restaurant samples were raw fish sashimi/sushi. The study found that 24 of the samples were mislabelled as regards the fish species, and snapper had the largest number of mislabelled samples (11), which had been substituted by tilapia. This may be due to the labelling of tilapia as Taiwan-Snapper.

Read the article here

The quality and price of tea produced in different regions varies greatly, and this research investigated whether elemental content determined by X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectroscopy can indicate origin of commercial teas. A total of 75 tea samples from tea producing countries throughout the world were analysed for their elemental content, and 18 elements were selected for analysis based on their repeatability performance. Tea origin was determined by multivariate classification of the tea into 5 major geographical regions then two regions, Asian and non-Asian. The Asian vs non-Asian classification of the teas reached an 85% correct prediction rate.

Read the abstract here

The volume of trade of food sold over the internet is both growing and changing at a rapid rate, and there is increasing concern about the potential safety and the possibility of food fraud of this trade. In this article, the FSA (Food Standards Agency) explains what action it is taking to regulate the online trade in food, especially dealing with the proliferation of unregistered businesses on online platforms. In particular, FSA has been rolling out a digital Register a Food Business tool, which allows businesses to register digitally with their local authority using a smart phone, tablet or PC.  

Read the article here

There have been an increasing number of cases of substitution of organic produce by conventially grown produce driving the need for robust methods to authenticate organically grown produce. Metabolomics to distinguish organic produce from conventially grown produce has been used for some time. This review examines the latest applications, advantages, challenges and future perspectives of HRMS based targeted and untargeted metabolomics for discrimination between organic and conventional crops. It concludes that data from combined techniques, such as untargeted and targeted metabolomics or metabolomics and stable isotope analysis, can improve the robustness of discriminative models, but they require further validation.

Read the abstract here

Plaintiffs of the lawsuit. who collected tuna sandwiches at multiple Subway outlets in California and had them analysed, claim that the sandwiches contain neither tuna nor fish. Subway denies the plaintiffs' claim.

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There is increasing demand for buffalo milk products. Italian researchers investigated the presence of undeclared cow's milk in buffalo yoghurt using a real-time PCR assay. They analysed 72 buffalo yoghurt samples and found that 18 of them contained bovine DNA. They recommend that this is a high priority area for investigation.

Read the abstract here

This book serves as a practical resource on the topic of food fraud prevention and compliance with regulatory and industry standards. It includes a brief overview of the history of food fraud, current challenges, and vulnerabilities faced by the food industry, and requirements for compliance with regulatory and industry standards on mitigating vulnerability to food fraud, with a focus on the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) Benchmarking Requirements. 

More information on the contents here

2H NMR spectroscopy has been the official method to detect sugar addition and water to wine for many decades. Recently, 1H NMR spectroscopy, a simpler and faster method (in terms of sample preparation), has gathered more and more attention in wine analysis, even though it lacks official recognition. This technique makes targeted quantitative determination of wine ingredients and non-targeted detection of the metabolomic fingerprint of a wine sample possible. This review summarises the possibilities and limitations of 1H NMR spectroscopy in analytical wine authentication.

Read the full open access paper here

CAMS (Community for Analytical Measurement Science) is an industry-led initiative 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.

The purpose of this CAMS Call is to encourage research and innovation within the field of analytical measurement science. Funding is available to co-fund a number of Lectureships, PostDocs and PhDs awards.

As CAMS is an industry-led network, applicants and their academic institutions are expected to work closely with CAMS Industry Members throughout the duration of the award. Applications should align with at least one of CAMS’s priority areas (listed below) and wherever possible address a specific industry challenge:
● Point of use sensors and photonics
● Complex mixtures, separations and detection
● Data analytics
● Novel instrumentation or technique

There are no restrictions on age or nationality, but applicants should be eligible to undertake an academic appointment within the British Isles - England, Scotland, Wales or the Island of Ireland (both Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland). It is anticipated that recipients of a CAMS award would reside and conduct their programme of work within the British Isles for the duration of the award.

More application details here

Deadline for applications is 17:00 GMT 19 February 2021