Vanilla is used widely in the food industry, and is a high value ingredient. A rapid assay has been developed using DAPCI (Desorption Atmospheric Pressure Chemical Ionisation) coupled with a time-of-flight mass spectrometer, to distinguish natural vanilla from imitation vanilla. The assay can be directly applied to vanilla pods/powder or vanilla extracts. Pure extracts produced mass spectra with no additives detected (ethyl vanillin, piperonal and coumarin). Coumarin which is restricted in some coutries had a limit of detection of 0.1ppb. The method is being investigated to see if country of origin can be verified.

Read the abstract here

The EU Alert and Cooperation Network is made up of members of the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed network (RASFF), the Administrative Assistance and Cooperation network (AAC) and the Agri-Food Fraud Network (FFN). European Commission has just published its 2021 report of the Alert and Cooperation Network, which shows that 2021 recorded the highest number of exchanges ever reached. 

Among suspicions of fraud, the most frequent notifications were related to the illegal movement of cats and dogs with 114 in total, while more than half of those involved animals coming from non-EU countries. Pets were often accompanied by counterfeit health certificates, illegally issued EU passports providing false information on the origin, or forged rabies anti-body laboratory results. The latter is of particular concern for animals coming from countries where rabies remains widespread. The report also flags that E-commerce is also becoming a more and more important route by which certain foods reach consumers. In 2021, a total of 281 RASFF notifications related to e-commerce as the main way of trade. Half of notifications about products traded online concerned dietetic foods, food supplements and fortified foods, followed by food contact material, reported in one third of the notifications. 

Read the 2021 Report here

Chicken MSM is produced by recovering the residual flesh under very high pressure after the removal of chicken parts from the carcase. Because of the production method, it has lost it myofibrillar structure, and is recovered as a paste. It has to be labelled separately if used in meat products such as sausages. An LC-MS/MS method has been developed, which uses intervertebral disc and cartilage specific peptides to detect MSM in meat and sausage products.The method was validated using a blinded study. In conclusion, the LC–MS/MS assay allowed the specific detection of MSM in real samples with unknown composition down to 10% MSM in the meat content.

This method was used to analyse 30 poultry sausages and meat products manufactured in Germany, which found that 9 of the samples tested positive for undeclared chicken MSM, which the manufacturers deny.

Read the open access LC-MS/MS paper here and the Press article on the survey here

This report describes the key changes in food standards from 2019 to 2021, a period when the UK’s food system was affected by our departure from the EU and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Food standards, of course, mean different things to different people. For the purposes of this report, The Food Standards Agency and Food Standards Scotland looked at standards in two ways:
1. Food and feed safety (including allergen management) – that is, ensuring the product is safe to consume, or, in the case of feed, safe for introduction into the food chain. A number of factors are taken into account when proposing safety standards, including advice from the FSA and FSS risk assessors and wider experts as well as other aspects such as the principles that may determine consumer
acceptability of risk. 
2. Other standards that support consumers and provide assurance – this includes provenance and authenticity, production standards (for example, animal welfare and sustainability), composition and nutritional content, labelling and advertising of food, and other information that enables consumers to make informed choices based on the values that are important to them.

Key Findings
The evidence set out in this report suggests that overall food safety standards have largely been maintained during 2021. However, this is a cautious conclusion. The pandemic disrupted regular inspections, sampling and audits across the food system, reducing the amount of data we can draw upon in assessing business compliance against food law requirements. It also changed patterns of consumer behaviour. While food safety standards have largely been maintained, both organisations recognise there are significant risks ahead.

The report highlights two particular areas of concern:

1. Firstly there has been a fall in the level of local authority inspections of food businesses. The situation is in the process of being repaired – in particular in food hygiene inspections of cafés and restaurants – but progress is being constrained by resource and the availability of qualified professionals.
2. The second is in relation to the import of food from the EU. To enhance levels of assurance on higher-risk EU food like meat, dairy and eggs, and food and feed that has come to the UK via the EU, it is essential that improved controls are put in place to the timescale that the UK Government has set out (by the end of 2023). The longer the UK operates without assurance from the exporting country that products meet the UK’s high food and feed safety standards, the less confident we can be that we can effectively identify potential safety incidents. It is vital that the UK has the ability to prevent entry of unsafe food and identify and respond to changing risks. Although we have considered these challenges carefully and put other arrangements within our control in place, they are not, in our view, sufficient. We are therefore committed to working with government departments to ensure that the introduction of these improved import controls provides high levels of protection for UK consumers.

Read full report. 

This consumer study identifies the degree of adulteration in some commonly used food items bought by Ghanaian consumers and the means of detection.  A sample of 384 women over the age of 18 years, who purchase and prepare various food items in the Volta Region of Ghana were chosen, and presented with a questionnaire in person by the researchers. Over 70% of the respondents knew about food adulteration, and the price of the food item was one good indication especially if it was much lower than usual. Half of the respondents mentioned the following foods: groundnut paste, powdered chilli pepper, tomato paste, tomato powder, honey, palm oil, sugar, and beef as some of the food products prone to adulteration.

Read the full paper here

Ion Mobility Spectrometry (IMS) is an instrument which seperates ionised molecules in an electric field against a counterflow of neutral drift gas at atmospheric pressure. Heavier ionised molecules will collide more often with the drift gas, and hence move more slowly in the electric field compared to lighter molecules. IMS has high sensitivity, and is useful in fingerprinting applications, and can be used as a stand alone instrument or coupled with a mass spectrometer. As the number applications of IMS has increased in the past few years, this paper reviews its use in food safety and authenticity applications.

Read the full open access paper (by clicking on "view pdf") here

Hyperspectral imaging (HSI) is now widely applied in research studies with the help of machine learning methods for detecting various components of different meat products. This review presents a fresh look at the current status of HSI research in both the scope and the applicability of HSI in meat quality evaluation. The future application scenarios of HSI in the supply chain and the future development of HSI hardware and software are also discussed.

Read the abstract here

The European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) has published its May 2022 Food Fraud Monthly Summary reporting food fraud incidents and investigations from around the world. These have been kindly represented as an infographic above by our Member Bruno Séchet, and thanks for allowing us to share it with the rest of the Network.

There are also references to an article about Codex Alimentarius Commission's plans to develop a new guidance on food fraud that is expected to be published in either 2024 or 2025, and FSAI's report on an audit of several businesses for meat labelling and traceability.

You can download the full summary here

To better understand our current position and capability within this exciting new space, a cross-sector workshop was held in February to
identify opportunities and challenges to establishing a competitive UK industry over the short, medium and long term. The workshop was taken forward by UKRI’s Transforming Food Production (TFP) programme and the Growing Kent & Medway Strength in Places Strategic Priorities Fund.                                                                               
A series of roadmaps have been developed as an output from the workshop which identify key priorities for the sector towards 2030. The TFP programme is already supporting a number of projects developing novel technologies and innovations to establish new industries across this sector, from insect and algal proteins, to advanced fermentations for single-cell proteins, and lab-cultured meat.

This report provides an initial blueprint for how the sector can come together and work collaboratively for mutual benefit, helping to unlock the global market opportunities that are emerging across the alternative protein sector.

Read report.

Food Standards Scotland (FSS) is currently in the process of finalising an online risk profiling tool and guidance to support industry in preventing food crime. FSS is looking for businesses to be involved in the review stage of this initiative to ensure it supports industry and achieves its purpose.

Please see an invitation from Ron McNaughton, Head of the Scottish Food Crime and Incidents Unit:

Food Crime Risk Profiling Tool (foodauthenticity.global)

Please contact foodcrime@fss.scot by 24th June if you would like to be part of the review.

A haul of counterfeit chocolate bars has been seized in raids on American candy shops on Oxford Street.

   The use of spectroscopic techniques for food authenticity is now well-established. This RSC book covers the use of visible and NIR spectroscopy, FTIR spectroscopy and Laser-induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) for food quality and authenticity. The chapters cover amongst other subjects, the application of spectroscopic techniques to tea, coffee, fruit juices, wine, olive oil, virgin coconut oil, cod liver oil, and the detection of irradiated foods.

Information about the book here

We are delighted that the Chair of the Food Authenticity Network's Advisory Board, Sterling Crew, has been elected as the new President-Elect of the Institute of Food Science and Tecnology (IFST).

Sterling’s election was formally noted during IFST’s Annual General Meeting on 31 March 2022. Of his appointment, Sterling said: ‘It is a great pleasure and privilege to be elected to be the next President of the Institute of Food Science and Technology, especially as the selection was by my professional peers. The IFST is a fantastic organisation with a marvellous membership at its very heart. I pledge to play my part in adding further value to membership and promoting the organisation’s worthy charitable aims. This is an exciting time for IFST as we approach our 60th Diamond Jubilee and with chartership potentially on the horizon. Food science and technology has a major part to play in our country’s future in these very challenging times. The food sector has responded by developing innovative solutions and creative products. The role our members play has never been more important.’

Read the full edition of IFST News.

Defendants are accused of participation in supply of horsemeat unfit for human consumption across Europe

18 people, including two veterinarians, are appearing in court in Marseille on Monday accused of involvement in a vast illegal trafficking network across Europe that allegedly supplied horsemeat unfit for human consumption to wholesalers and butchers.

The defendants, from France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and Spain, are thought to have bought and sold thousands of retired draft horses and racehorses, and even ponies, that were exported to Belgium where they were allegedly given fake identification and tracking documents before being sent back to abattoirs in the south of France.

They have been charged with fraud as part of an organised gang, or supplying false and deceptive goods liable to be a danger for human health, and face up to 10 years in prison if convicted. Eight of the accused have been in custody since 2015 after European police smashed the continent-wide network.

More than 150 horse owners were victims of the alleged scam, of which around fifty have filed civil suits.

The national council of the order of veterinarians, the municipality of Alès and the National Interprofessional Association of Livestock and Meat (ANBV) have also brought civil action.

Read full article.

The UK government has today published its food strategy.

This food strategy sets out government ambitions and priorities to deliver the following objectives:

1. a prosperous agri-food and seafood sector that ensures a secure food supply in an unpredictable world and contributes to the levelling up agenda through good quality jobs around the country.
2. a sustainable, nature positive, affordable food system that provides choice and access to high quality products that support healthier and home-grown diets for all.
3. trade that provides export opportunities and consumer choice through imports, without compromising our regulatory standards for food, whether produced domestically or imported.

To achieve these objectives government will seek to:

• broadly maintain the current level of food we produce domestically, including sustainably boosting production in sectors where there are post-Brexit opportunities including horticulture and seafood.
• ensure that by 2030, pay, employment and productivity, as well as completion of high-quality skills training will have risen in the agri-food industry in every area of the UK, to support our production and levelling up objectives.
• halve childhood obesity by 2030, reducing the healthy life expectancy (HLE) gap between local areas where it is highest and lowest by 2030, adding 5 years to HLE by 2035 and reducing the proportion of the population living with diet-related illnesses; and to support this, increasing the proportion of healthier food sold.
• reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and the environmental impacts of the food system, in line with our net zero commitments and biodiversity targets and preparing for the risks from a changing climate.
• contribute to our export strategy goal to reach £1 trillion of exports annually by 2030 and supporting more UK food and drink businesses, particularly small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), to take advantage of new market access and free trade agreements (FTAs) post-Brexit
• maintain high standards for food consumed in the UK, wherever it is produced.

The FSA has shared its first science newsletter.

These quarterly newsletters will update you on FSA funding opportunities, latest research publications, areas of research interest, and will highlight FSA science job vacancies and peer reviewer opportunities.  

In this first issue, FSA highlight the recent launch of the new FSA 5-year strategy and the new Food Safety Research Network, and the publication of household food insecurity reports

Highlights

FSA 5-year Strategy Launch
We recently published our strategy for improving food over the next five years and recommitted to our mission of food you can trust.

The five-year strategy reflects the FSA’s greater responsibilities now that the UK is outside of the EU and takes into account growing public concern about health and climate change. Read our full FSA strategy 2022 to 2027: Food you can trust.

FSA research shows growing concern around the cost of food

Research published by the Food Standards Agency today shows the cost of food is a future major worry for three out of four of people in the UK.

FSA announces appointment of two fellowships to the PATH-SAFE programme
We're delighted to announce the appointment of two fellowships to the Pathogen Surveillance in Agriculture, Food and the Environment programme (PATH-SAFE) team. Data Fellow Professor David Aanensen and Science Fellow Dr Ed Haynes will play a key role in driving forward our scientific innovation. You can read our blog post Making food safer with two PATH-SAFE fellowships.

Food Standards Agency takes next step to regulate CBD market
FSA takes next step to regulate CBD market
We have confirmed the list of CBD products that are now one step closer towards being authorised. The CBD Public List shows which products have a credible application for authorisation with the FSA.

Food Safety Network

We’re pleased to launch a new Food Safety Research Network, co-funding with UKRI-BBSRC. Hosted by The Quadram Institute, the network will help tackle the UK’s annual 2.4 million cases of foodborne illness by bringing together experts from government, industry and academic to address issues of food safety. 

FSA Scientific Advisory Committees welcome twelve new members

The Chair of the Food Standards Agency (FSA) Professor Susan Jebb has announced the appointment of 12 new independent experts as members of the FSA’s Scientific Advisory Committees (SACs)

Speak Up For Allergies Campaign
We have launched the next phase of the Speak Up For Allergies campaign. The campaign encourages young people to support friends with allergies when eating in restaurants and the important role of front of house staff to provide allergen information effectively.

Improving School Food Standards
Following the publication of the Government’s Levelling Up White Paper, our Chair, Susan Jebb, welcomes plans for a pilot aimed at improving school food standards.

Recent Publications

We collaborate with a range of stakeholders on research projects to ensure our work is underpinned by the latest science and evidence. Our publications are available on our Research and Evidence pages. 

If you would like to receive this newsletter directly or in an alternative format, or if you would like to chat about any of the information provided within this newsletter, FSA would be happy to hear from you. Please get in touch by emailing Science.Communications@food.gov.uk.

In our 14th June 2022 Newsletter, we have the following articles:

• An Update on the Network's Centres of Expertise (CoEs)
• New Food Security Resource Base
• CoE Profile - Bangor University
• Under Pressure: Fraud in the Food Industry by Tenet Law
• Food Most Reported as Fraudulent - Karen Everstine, FoodChain ID
• Government Chemist Publishes Scientific Paper on Honey Authentication
• Joint Knowledge Transfer Framework for Food Standards and Food Safety Analysis
• Food Authenticity Network 2021 Annual Summary

You can download the Newsletter in our Documents Section here

Methods to distinguish crops grown on synthetic fertilisation regimes and organic fertilisation regimes have used nitrogen and oxygen stable isotopes or metabolomics to authenticate growing practices. This research look at the metabolites from tomatoes grown on synthetic and organic fertiliser regimes with synthetic and natural crop protection substances. Using LC-HRMS, the metabolite profile revealed the presence of a compound later identified as gerberin. The levels of gerberin correlated negatively with the presence of synthetic fertilisers, and therefore could be used a biomarker for distinguishing agricultural practices and verifying organic production. 

Read the abstract here

 A research project by the Department of Science and Technology-Philippine Nuclear Research Institute (DOST-PNRI) using the AOAC mass spectrometry method for C4 sugar addition found that 75 to 86.5% of local honey brands on the Philippine market are adulterated with sugar syrups from either sugar cane or maize. The study's findings have been passed the the Philippine government for further investigation and hopefuly resolution to assist legitimate honey producers, who are losing considerable sales due to the widespread distribution of adulterated honey in the market, and consumers who are deceived into buying them.

Read the article here

This is Tenet's quarterly publication helping in house counsel and those from a science background assessing food safety keep up to date with current and emerging fraud related risks.

If you work in the food and drinks industry and take an interest in fraud and financial crime impact in the sector, please take a look at the Issue 4 of The Secret Ingredient.