Misrepresentation and Counterfeiting of Wine - FSA - NFCU Rating - RED - Action strongly advised

SUBJECT OF ALERT: The Food Standards Agency’s National Food Crime Unit is asking businesses to be aware of several brands of wine that have been found to be misrepresented in regards to protected origins and have been counterfeited.

WHY ARE WE ISSUING THIS ALERT? A recent NFCU investigation in collaboration with the ICQRF in Italy has discovered large volumes of wine that is not of the expected quality, counterfeited or is not the variety as described on the label.

Photo by Hermes Rivera on Unsplash

 ACTION RECOMMENDED: The following products have been found to be affected by the issues mentioned in this alert:

• Product 1 Name: RIANNA MONTEPULCIANO D.O.P
• Product 2 Name: RIANNA PROSECCO
• Product 3 Name: CASTELLO LONGOBARDO TREVISO PROSECCO EXTRA DRY.

Read the full alert for how to spot the counterfeits: English version.

Camgyfleu a Ffugio Gwin - FSA - NFCU - Sgôr – Coch - Argymhellir yn gryf y dylid cymryd camau gweithredu

Testun y Rhybudd: Mae Uned Genedlaethol Troseddau Bwyd (NFCU) yr Asiantaeth Safonau Bwyd (ASB) yn gofyn i fusnesau fod yn ymwybodol o sawl brand o win y canfuwyd eu bod wedi’u camgyfleu o ran tarddiad gwarchodedig ac wedi’u ffugio.

Pam rydym yn cyflwyno’r rhybudd hwn? Mae ymchwiliad diweddar gan yr NFCU, gan gydweithio â’r ICQRF yn yr Eidal, wedi darganfod cyfaint mawr o win nad yw o’r ansawdd disgwyliedig, sydd wedi’i ffugio, neu nad yw’n cyd-fynd â’r amrywiaeth a ddisgrifir ar y label.

Camau gweithredu a argymhellir: Canfuwyd bod y problemau a nodir yn y rhybudd hwn yn effeithio ar y cynhyrchion canlynol:

• Enw cynnyrch 1: RIANNA MONTEPULCIANO DOP
• Enw cynnyrch 2: RIANNA PROSECCO
• Enw cynnyrch 3: CASTELLO LONGOBARDO TREVISO PROSECCO EXTRA DRY.

Darllenwch y rhybudd llawn am sut i adnabod y nwyddau ffug: fersiwn Cymraeg.

BRCGS has launched Directory Pro, a new online tool designed to help businesses verify and monitor BRCGS certifications across their supply chains. Directory Pro provides a searchable registry of certificated sites, live status data, and downloadable PDF certificates — giving procurement teams, brand assurance, investigators and laboratories fast access to authenticated certification information to support authenticity and due‑diligence checks.

Key features

• Searchable database of certificated sites with scope and scheme details.
• Live status indicators showing current certification standing and expiry.
• Downloadable, authenticated PDF certificates for record-keeping and supplier validation.
• Filtering and reporting tools to support supplier risk screening and audit planning.

Why this matters for food authenticity; certificate fraud and misrepresentation are common vulnerabilities in complex food supply chains. Directory Pro reduces that risk by providing verified, up‑to‑date certification data from BRCGS. This helps buyers and investigators more quickly identify uncertified or out‑of‑date suppliers, focus sampling and audit resources where risk is greatest, and corroborate supplier claims during authenticity investigations.

Practical considerations

• Directory Pro complements — but does not replace — on‑site audits, laboratory testing and wider supplier assurance measures. Users should continue multi‑layered verification (document checks, audits, testing).
• Coverage depends on the schemes and regions included; users should confirm whether relevant suppliers are listed.
• Check access model (subscription, licence tiers) and data update frequency before integrating into procurement workflows.

Visit the BRCGS Directory Pro page for further information.

The European Food Fraud Community of Practice (EFF-CoP) is bringing together the food integrity community for the 1st Authentic Food Festival and Conference, taking place 27–28 May 2026 at University College Dublin, Ireland.

This two-day event combines scientific exchange, practical insights, and interactive experiences, creating a meeting point for researchers, regulators, industry experts, and students working to protect the authenticity of our food systems.

Participants will explore the latest developments in food fraud detection, prevention strategies, policy insights, and supply-chain transparency, while also engaging in interactive sessions, discussions, and collaborative activities. 

Key Dates to Remember

Abstract Submissions

📅 21 March 2026 – Deadline for oral and regular poster presentations
📅 20 May 2026 – Deadline for last-minute poster presentations

Registrations

📅 31 March 2026 – Early bird registration deadline (reduced fee)
📅 20 May 2026 – Regular registration deadline

 🎓 Student rate available: €25 (€20 early bird until 31 March 2026). Email effcop@ucd.ie (proof of university registration required).

Featured Speakers

The festival-conference will host leading voices from academia, industry, and policy who are shaping the fight against food fraud:

• Prof. Maarten Boksem: “Honestly Dishonest: Exploring the Cheating Brain”– Erasmus University Rotterdam.
• Dr Alex Kupatadze: “Detecting the Invisible: How Trade Data Exposes Illicit Activity in Supply Chains”– School of Politics and Economics, Kings College London, UK.
• Prof. Chris Elliott: “From the Lab to the Front Line” – Queen's University Belfast.
• Frank Cederhout: “How to become a Fraudster” – Forensic Accountant/Forensic Investigator, Deloitte.
• Roland Hassel: “Anti-Corruption Training in the Aid Sector: From Research to Practice” – German Red Cross Corruption Prevention Manager & Anti-Corruption Consultant.
• Prof. Alan Reilly: “From the Horse’s Mouth – The Scandal That Put Food Fraud on the EU’s Menu”– Adjunct Professor, UCD/Former Chief Executive of the Food Safety Authority of Ireland. 

Session Chairs and Moderators

The programme will also feature experienced moderators guiding discussions and interactive sessions:

• Dr Selvarani Elahi, Chair Session: Innovation meets Trust – LGC
• Dr Di Wu, Chair Session: Tech meets Trust – Queen's University Belfast
• Dr Hans van der Moolen, Moderator: Clinic “Under Pressure” – Eurofins Food Safety Solutions
• Prof. Saskia van Ruth, Moderator: Clinic “Under Pressure” – University College Dublin
• Frank Cederhout, Moderator: Clinic “Under Pressure” – Deloitte. 

Round Table: Good Practices, Shared Insights

A dedicated round table will bring together experts from public authorities and industry to share practical approaches to tackling food fraud:

• Dr Karen Gussow – Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority - Intelligence and Criminal Investigations Unit (NVWA-IOD)
• Ivo Muller – QFS Risk Management Strategy Director, Danone Quality and Food Safety
• Quincy Lissaur – SSAFE, Moderator
• Ray Bowe – Director Food Safety & Quality, Musgrave Group. 

Interactive Workshop

Beverly Wenger-Trayner and Etienne Wenger-Trayner from Wenger-Trayner will moderate the workshop: “From Gaps to Action: Strengthening Food Fraud Education Across Europe.” 

Join the Community

The 1st Authentic Food Festival and Conference is designed not only to share knowledge but also to build connections across the food integrity community. From scientific presentations and expert panels to interactive workshops and networking opportunities, the event aims to inspire collaboration and new ideas in the fight against food fraud.

📍 Dublin, Ireland — 27–28 May 2026

For registration, abstract submission, and the preliminary agenda, visit: https://www.eff-cop.eu/festival  

Honey fraud, particularly the adulteration of honey with cheap sugar syrups and mislabelling of origin,remains a high-profile and contentious issue.

This article, by The Grocer, explores how investigations and testing programmes have flagged potential concerns in some imported, lower-cost and blended honeys, but also highlights significant disagreement over the reliability and interpretation of current analytical methods, including advanced techniques such as NMR. The Framework for interrogation of honey authenticity databases, jointly funded by the Government Chemist and Defra, is featured in this article.

The article also outlines how increasingly sophisticated fraud practices can evade detection, while also noting the role of complex global supply chains in obscuring traceability.

A clear divide emerges between stakeholders: retailers and industry bodies point to due diligence and existing controls, whereas beekeepers and campaigners argue these are insufficient and that fraud is undermining genuine producers and consumer confidence.

The article emphasises that while there are indicators of fraud, the variety of methods used and lack of harmonisation mean the true scale of honey fraud remains unresolved, reinforcing the need for improved testing, greater transparency, and stronger international alignment.

Food authentication and traceability in high-risk products: analytical approaches for regulatory control

Guest editors:

Marta Ferreiro González - University of Cadiz, Cadiz, Spain

Widiastuti Setyaningsih - Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta, Indonesia

Marco Ciulu - University of Verona, Verona, Italy

Special issue information:

Food fraud and adulteration continue to pose significant challenges to consumer protection, fair trade, and official control systems worldwide, including in the European Union. Foods such as honey, fruit juices, jams, powdered milk, and similar products (many of which are regulated by EU Breakfast Directives), as well as other globally relevant foods (olive oil, coffee, tea, wine, spices, among others), are particularly vulnerable to fraudulent practices such as misleading labelling, dilution, substitution, and false claims regarding the origin of the raw materials or their geographical provenance. Recent regulatory developments in the EU and globally have emphasized the need for robust, harmonized, and enforceable analytical strategies capable of supporting both official control and regulatory decision-making.

This Special Issue invites contributions that showcase cutting-edge analytical and data-driven approaches for food authentication and fraud detection, emphasizing rapid, sustainable, and practical methods relevant to both research and official control laboratories. We particularly encourage submissions on non-targeted analytical approaches, spectroscopic techniques, chemometrics, machine learning, and traceability frameworks. Topics covering method validation, harmonization, traceability, and origin verification are highly welcomed, providing a platform to discuss current challenges, scientific gaps, and future needs in regulatory contexts.

By combining innovative analytical methodologies with advanced computational and data analysis tools, this Special Issue seeks to bridge the gap between scientific research and practical regulatory applications. We aim to highlight emerging challenges, methodological gaps, and opportunities for enhancing food fraud detection and prevention, ultimately guiding both the scientific community and regulatory authorities toward more reliable, harmonized, and effective strategies. This Special Issue serves as a critical forum for advancing enforceable analytical solutions that ensure global food integrity and consumer trust.

Manuscript submission information:

Interested authors can submit their papers at https://www.editorialmanager.com/foodcont/default.aspx? before March 20th, 2027.

Please make sure to select the appropriate article type "VSI: Food authentication and traceability" while submitting.

In case of any questions please contact the above Guest Editors directly.

Check out the FAQs on special issues.

Learn more about the benefits of publishing in a special issue.

Interested in becoming a guest editor? Discover the benefits of guest editing a special issue and the valuable contribution that you can make to your field.

This is the Food Standards Agency's first Incident Prevention Update and covers: 

• Recent incidents
• Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) incident summary
• Signals and emerging issues
• Root Cause Analysis (RCA): Animal feed and pet food incidents
• Did you know?
• New FSA and Institute for Grocery Distribution (IGD) incidents framework 
• Publications you may have missed

Figure 1 shows the total number and percentage (%) of the main hazard categories identified in signals; compositional issues was the highest reported hazard, [49%], followed by novel foods, [22%], pathogenic micro-organisms, [8%], labelling related non-compliances, [5%], non-compliance, [5%], other hazards, [5%], allergens, [4%] and heavy metals, [2%].

Between April 2025 and February 2026, 549 signals linked to food supplements were identified and processed by the FSA signal monitoring function. Hazards and issues identified in signals triaged by the FSA were compositional non-compliances, including excess vitamins and minerals, (notably vitamins D, B6, A and iron), unauthorised substances, labelling deficiencies and (unlabelled or incorrectly labelled ingredients). Other food safety concerns identified, albeit at a lower frequency but are potentially serious included pathogenic micro-organisms, [i.e. Salmonella spp.], undeclared allergens and heavy metals.

During this period, FSA observed an increase of non-compliance reports in supplements for compositional failures, non-compliant novel foods, and Salmonella spp. contamination, in particular botanical powders. The country of origin with the highest number of signals identified for supplements was the United States, primarily for composition and unauthorised substances.

The FSA has recently updated its supplement guidance for consumers.

Read full Incident Prevention Update here.

FAN is pleased to highlight a newly published peer-reviewed article presenting a recommended framework designed to support more structured and consistent implementation in practice: Towards harmonisation in food authentication: How to establish maximum tolerable levels of food adulterants? - ScienceDirect. This link is open access until 3 April.

The authors are keen to move this beyond publication and into practical dialogue. They are particularly interested in understanding whether the proposed framework is realistically implementable across regulatory, industry, laboratory and supply-chain contexts.

We would value FAN members’ perspectives on:

• Is the framework practical in real-world food system settings?

• What barriers might limit implementation?

• What adaptations would make it more usable?

• Where does it align — or conflict — with existing guidance and standards?

Your experience is critical in testing whether recommended approaches are workable beyond theory.

Please share your reflections, either via the comments, on the FAN discussion board or directly with the authors: nixb@fvst.dk

Let’s ensure that emerging frameworks are not just academically robust, but operationally deliverable.

Thank you!

Cell Cultivated Products (CCPs) are novel foods produced by growing animal cells in controlled environments rather than through traditional livestock farming. CCPs offer the potential for sustainable and ethical alternatives to conventional protein sources but raise important questions regarding safety, quality, authenticity and labelling.

There is a growing requirement to understand the current state of laboratory-based analytical methods that could be applied for the traceability of CCPs. As part of a project for the Food Standards Agency (FS900616: Review of analytical methods for Cell Cultivated Products), the National Measurement Laboratory at LGC is assessing the potential of laboratory-based analytical methods for the detection of CCPs in food and feed supply chains.

A questionnaire has been devised to help inform the knowledge and evidence base that will support readiness for the practical enforcement of CCPs and address potential future challenges.

We kindly invite stakeholders, across industry, academia, regulatory bodies and laboratories, to complete the survey by 6 March 2026 and share insights based on their professional experience — your input will play a vital role in shaping future analytical capability and ensuring effective oversight of CCPs.

Link to questionnaire: https://forms.office.com/e/NEfe3uEQtt

Thank you!

The National Measurement Laboratory at LGC

When crises disrupt Europe’s food system, no single actor can respond effectively alone.

That’s why SecureFood is developing a Resilience Governance Framework, which includes a new cooperation mechanism to help governments, industry, researchers, and civil society work together more systematically during disruptions.

To ensure this mechanism reflects the real needs and experiences of stakeholders, we need your input.

Please share your perspective by completing this short survey on our website: https://lnkd.in/dS_NYGcH

Thank you - your insights will help build a stronger, more resilient European food system.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has launched new online guidance to help people buy and use food supplements with confidence, as many look to boost their health in the new year.

The FSA’s top tips for using supplements safely; 

• Check the label for dosage instructions and never exceed the recommended amount 
• Check safe levels of food supplements via the NHS website (Opens in a new window) and speak to your GP if you are considering taking higher dose supplements to ensure that you actually need them, and for advice on how long you should take them for 
• Speak to your GP or pharmacist before taking supplements if you are pregnant, breastfeeding, have a medical condition, or take prescription medicines 
• Be wary of online bargains – unusually cheap products may be counterfeit 
• Only buy from reputable sellers and take extra care buying from online marketplaces 
• If you feel unwell after taking a supplement, stop immediately and seek medical advice. 

Read full guidance.

PAS 96 Protecting and defending food and drink from deliberate attack - Guide

Scope 

This PAS provides guidance on preventing and mitigating deliberate (intentional) threats to food and drink and their supply chains, using the Threat Assessment Critical Control Points (TACCP) risk management approach.

It applies to organizations of all sizes and at all point in the food and drink supply chain, from primary production through manufacturing, distribution, retailing and foodservice. The guidance is particularly valuable for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) who might not have access to specialist risk management expertise.

The scope is limited to intentional acts, (e.g. sabotage, adulteration, extortion, espionage, or cyberattack carried out for ideological, financial gain or malicious reasons). Unintentional incidents, (e.g. accidental contamination or naturally occurring hazards) and routine food safety or quality issues fall outside the scope of this PAS and are addressed by other standards such as HACCP-based food safety management systems.

Read and comment on the draft by 17 January 2026.

Wishing you a wonderful holiday period and a Happy New Year!

Your FAN Team

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is Canada's leading authority on food fraud oversight. This report shares how they prevented a significant amount of misrepresented food from being sold in Canada.

Between April 1, 2023, and March 31, 2024, the CFIA conducted a number of activities to prevent, detect and deter food fraud. Activities included:

• monitoring and analyzing risks and planning mitigation activities
• promoting awareness
• working with international counterparts
• advancing research and method development
• targeting surveillance and taking enforcement action where appropriate.

CFIA conducted 2 types of sampling during this timeframe: marketplace monitoring sampling (also referred to as targeted surveys) and targeted inspectorate sampling.

• Marketplace monitoring sampling involves samples collected by an independent third party contracted by the CFIA and occurs only at retail stores to gauge overall compliance of certain food products in the Canadian marketplace. 323 marketplace monitoring samples (coconut water, fresh meat, spices, sunflower oil, tea) were assessed to detect specific types of misrepresentation through laboratory analysis. Results demonstrated high compliance, except for coconut water which was lower.
• Targeted inspectorate sampling involves inspection and sampling by CFIA inspectors at different types of food businesses such as importers, domestic processors and retailers. The likelihood of finding non-compliance is higher because it targets food businesses associated with risk factors such as a history of non-compliance, gaps in preventive controls or unusual trading patterns. 712 targeted samples (fish, honey, meat, olive oil, organic fresh or frozen fruits and vegetables, other expensive oils, grated hard cheese, fruit juice, other foods) were assessed to detect specific types of misrepresentation through laboratory analysis. CFIA also conducted 345 label verifications, including basic label verifications and net quantity verifications. Overall, compliance rates were similar to previous years. Highlights include:
  • grated hard cheese, olive oil and other expensive oils had the lowest satisfactory rates for authenticity testing, whereas fish, fruit juice, meat and honey had the highest.
  • fish, olive oil and other expensive oils had the lowest compliance rates for label verifications, while organic fresh fruit and vegetables, grated hard cheese and other foods had the highest.

Read full report here.

Read more on CFIA's role in combatting food fraud.

The National Food Crime Unit (NFCU)'s latest industry update:

• Highlights the key risks and issues that may be impacting the food industry
• Shares best practice to strengthen the industry’s response to food crime
• Tells you about NFCU's ongoing work.

In this edition:

• man sentenced following NFCU joint investigation
• industry alert
• preventing dairy fraud
• horizon scanning
• NFCU auditor training launch
• using director identity verification to strengthen fraud prevention

You can contact the NFCU Prevention team to feedback, raise a concern or possibly contribute to a future update.

Read NFCU December Industry Update.

The European Council and Parliament have reached a provisional agreement on the new regulatory framework for New Genomic Techniques (NGTs), supporting food security, innovation, and reduced dependence on external inputs.

Key Points of the Agreement:

1. Confirms that NGT-1 plants (those equivalent to conventional plants) will follow a simplified procedure, with:

• Verification only at first generation
• No mandatory labelling for food/feed products
• Labelling only for seeds and reproductive material

2. Defines an exclusion list of traits not allowed in NGT-1 (e.g., herbicide tolerance).

Image courtesy of our Member Cesare Varallo.

3. NGT-2 plants (with more complex changes) remain under full GMO legislation, including:

• Authorisation
• Labelling
• Traceability
• Monitoring
• Member State opt-out options.

4. Includes provisions to improve transparency on patents and licensing, including a public database and an expert group on patenting.

5. The European Commission will publish a study on patent impacts one year after entry into force.

Next steps

The provisional agreement will now have to be endorsed by the Council and the Parliament before it can be formally adopted.

Read full European Council press release. 

The Food Standards Agency (FSA), in partnership with Food Standards Scotland (FSS), has published the UK's first safety guidance for cell-cultivated products (CCPs).

Cell-cultivated products are new foods that don’t involve traditional farming such as rearing livestock or growing plants and grains. They are made by taking cells from plants or animals, which are then grown into food. The FSA and FSS’s CCP Sandbox Programme focusses on animal cells only.

These are the first of several pieces of guidance being produced by the programme. The first confirms that cell-cultivated products produced using animal cells, sometimes called ‘lab-grown meat’, are defined as products of animal origin. This means that businesses must apply existing food safety regulations during the production process.

Image: gov.uk

The second provides guidance on allergenicity assessments and how nutritional quality will be assessed as part of the approval process for all cell-cultivated products.  

More information and guidance for businesses on cell-cultivated products can be found at Innovative Food Guidance Hub.

Rating – AMBER RAG Rating –

Goat meat substitution - Speciation failures

The Food Standards Agency National Food Crime Unit is asking businesses to be alert to goat meat being substituted with other species.

The FSA's Retail Surveillance Survey sampling has identified goat meat on sale that has been substituted with other species, most commonly sheep. It has affected a mixture of frozen and chilled product bought in small food businesses but also on online marketplaces and online shops selling directly to customers.
Unsatisfactory samples are the subject of ongoing enquiries.

ACTION RECOMMENDED

• If you are purchasing goat meat or products containing goat meat to sell, please be aware of the risk of substitution and consider the following advice:
• Ensure that reputable suppliers are being used, who have traceability systems in place for goat meat you are purchasing. Review suppliers in line with yoursupplier approval policies and procedures.

Read full alert.

A project, funded by the UK Government Chemist and Defra's Food Authenticity Programme, has delivered a practical framework that will enable independent scrutiny of proprietary honey authenticity databases, which are often unpublished and opaque, yet underpin significant commercial testing decisions. Lack of transparency in these databases has led to legal disputes and undermines confidence in non-targeted analytical methods used for verifying honey authenticity. 

The Government Chemist convened an independent expert group led by Professor Michael Walker and Dr David Hoyland. This group developed a framework, which offers detailed guidance on evaluating database scope, composition, metadata, representativity, and method validation. It also includes safeguards for database owners and describes international standards and UK/EU regulations.

This framework will enable the assessment of the fitness for purpose of authenticity databases used to interpret authenticity test results, enabling reliable enforcement decisions and reducing legal ambiguity. It empowers both regulators and industry, supporting transparent, science-based scrutiny and advancing the integrity of the global food system.

Access the documents:

• Framework for interrogation of honey authenticity databases
• Annex 1 - Terms of reference: Members and modus operandi of the working group
• Annex 2 - Appendices 1-3
• Annex 3 - Guidance notes on appendices 1-3
• Annex 4 - Review exercise summary report.

Issue 20 of the FAN newsletter has been published!.

This edition includes a summary of our 10th anniversary celebration activiities and an updates on FAN initiatives, the EFF-CoP and Watson Horizon Europe projects and on our Food Authenticity Centres of Expertise (remember you
can find direct contact details for each of them on our website).

We also have a fascinating case study from Cesare Varallo that gives an account of a very complex food fraud investigation he was involved in, an article describing the Food Law Group and an article from FAN Technical Director, John Points, describing how we select articles each month.

Plus, we have lots to update you on in our ‘Partnerships’ section from our SSAFE Partner Profile, fiin’s new SME Hub and a new Partnerships page on our website that shows the benefits of partnering with FAN.

Please share with colleagues and encourage them to join the FAN community.

Government Chemist Review 2024 

The Government Chemist Annual Review provides a summary of the work undertaken by the Government Chemist team, including highlights from the resolution of referee cases, advisory work and capability building activities. The review also details the impact of the work obtained though active engagement with a wide range of stakeholders.

The main topics described in this review are:

• Referee cases: acephate in frozen okra, bubble tea, formaldehyde migration, aflatoxins in rice, and propiconazole in rice.

• Capability building: the review highlights particular projects the Government Chemist team worked on to be ready for future challenges, extending the analytical capabilities non-dairy substitutes (such as soya, oat, coconut and almond) and microplastics in food.

• Knowledge sharing activities to further the impact of the referee and advisory functions: the review highlights some of the publications, webinars and other engagement activities, including the Food Authenticity Network, undertaken by the team to ensure that the breadth of knowledge generated through the Government Chemist’s programme reaches its target audiences.

Read full review.