News

The 87Sr/86Sr isotopic ratio is a well used marker for geographical origin reflecting the geology on which the crop or animal is raised. It has already been used as a provenance marker for evaluating of wine geographical origin from wine producing regions worldwide. This paper discusses the challenges on using strontium isotope signatures for wine authenticity and provenance. It recomends having a robust database of strontium isotopic values, as well as combining it with other discriminating parameters, namely trace elements for the identification of wine provenance. 

Read the full open access paper

There has been neither analytical methods nor specific parameters to  define milk freshness, which is an important consumer and quality issue. This study identified 8 marker molecules as indicators of milk aging, using liquid chromatography–high-resolution mass spectrometry (LC-HRMS) followed by chemometric analysis. Thirty high-quality pasteurised liquid milk samples were collected directly from a production site over a 6 week period and analysed immediately, and after storage at 2 to 8°C for 7 days to determine the markers and establish the model. The markers were then validated by challenging the model with a set of 10 milk samples, not previously analysed, and were able to clearly distinguish between the fresh pasteurised milk samples (0 days) and the stored samples (7 days). 

You can read the full paper before the 16 November 2021, and the abstract after this date.

Ensuring the safety, quality and authenticity is the basic aim of the spice and seasoning trade. The aim of this review is to present the threats to consumers posed by the presence of spice and seasonings in the diet. Of particular interest is the issue of adulteration and mislabelling mentioned in the review.

You can read the full open access paper.

This is Tenet's first edition of their quarterly newsletter specifically focused on the prevention and protection against fraud and financial crime for the food sector.

In each issue, Tenet will provide articles to assist with fraud prevention planning, advice on protecting brand integrity and recomendations to improve quality control - all from a legal perspective.

Poor durum wheat harvests predicted in Europe and Canada coupled with more expensive freight costs have raised the cost of pasta. European durum price was €590.50/tonne on 5 August and rose to €760.50/tonne on 2 September, according to weekly data from the Bologna Commodities market index. As 60% of the cost of pasta is the price of durum wheat, this caused a rise of 25% in the production cost of pasta, and the price of durum wheat is expected to rise even higher. 

The rise in the cost of durum wheat leaves pasta vulnerable to adulteration by common wheat, which is much cheaper.

Read the article here

 A new type of crime that goes to the heart of what we eat. Criminal syndicates are infiltrating the global food supply chain, undermining the ability of consumers to trust what is on the label and what ends up on their plate.

This episode was aired 2 weeks ago and is available until 20 October 2021: 

https://iview.abc.net.au/show/four-corners/

and then select the food fraud video

This is a comprehensive review examining the global trade in rice, problems of fraud which have occurred in this trade, and the analytical tools that have been used to address the problems of fraud. The techniques discussed cover the authenticity of rice, its botanical and geographical origin, and cultivation methods. The review concludes that there is no single analytical tool capable of providing an answer to all rice authentication problems.

Read the full open-access paper here

The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has released a new IARC Evidence Summary Brief, titled “The Nutri-Score: A Science-Based Front-of-Pack Nutrition Label”. This report, led by scientists from IARC and partners, shows that the Nutri-Score, a clear and simple front-of-pack nutrition label that rates the nutritional quality of food products, is an effective tool to guide consumers towards healthier food choices.

Based on scientific evidence, the IARC Evidence Summary Brief stresses the superiority of the Nutri-Score to other nutrition labels, and calls for its widespread and systematic adoption in Europe and beyond, to help consumers lower their risk of noncommunicable diseases such as cancer.

Read IARC Press Release 301

Read the Evidence Summary Brief about the Nutri-Score 

Read more about the IARC Evidence Summary Briefs series 

 This article in the Guardian newspaper gives some examples of where the determination of geological and ground water isotopes, and trace elements linked to the soil and geography where the food originates, is able to check claims of the origin of the food or crop. Examples are given about fraudulent claims of Egyptian cotton, New Zealand beef, and chocolate from beans sourced in Venezuela/Ivory Coast. It also describes the science behind identifying the country where "Adam" the torso of a young boy found in the water under Tower Bridge in London twenty years ago, spent his life before being taken to England. 

Read the article here

The increase in consumption of vegan foods has promoted higher production of different plant-based proteins. This study looked at developing a non-invasive and rapid method to determine the authenticity of plant-based protein powders (free of soy, lactose, and gluten), and classify possible adulterants (soya, whey and wheat) in the powders, using FT-NIR (Fourier Transform-Near-Infrared Spectroscopy) and chemometrics. A set of 47 pure plant protein samples were analysed by FT-NIR.  A set of 144 adulterated samples were prepared by adding 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35 and 40% (w/w) of each adulterant into pure plant-based protein powder samples, and also analysed. The spectra were analysed chemometrically combining one class and multiclass methods, and it was found that this approach could be successfully used in a range of 10–40% of adulteration, to verify the authenticity of the plant-based protein powders and to classify adulterants into soy, whey, and wheat.

Read the abstract here

As the popularity of coffee as a beverage in Europe grew in the 18th century, so has its vulnerability to adulteration and fraud. This review looks at the changing methodology to uncover adulteration and fraud over 3 centuries. It focuses on the discrimination between coffee and other foods or between coffee and its by-products. The earliest chemical, physical and microscopy methods are presented followed by methods developed in the 20th and 21st centuries using chromatography and spectroscopy associated with advanced statistical tools, and DNA-based methods. The earliest adulterant studied was chicory, but from the 20th century onwards, maize, coffee by-products, and barley were the most studied, followed by chicory, rice and other food items. Most methods have low sensitivity, and are adversely affected by matrix effects, especially degree of roasting.

Read the abstract here

A number of Australian fresh produce industry bodies have received funding as part of a Victorian government programme designed to improve the way agricultural producers get their products to market. In the first tranche of the Food to Market programme, A$8.4m worth of grants has been distributed to 13 key industry and regional peak bodies. Global Victoria has contributed an additional A$2.8m to provide export recovery support to industries impacted by disruptions as a result of the pandemic.

 Ausveg received A$960k to commence a pilot in partnership with the Victorian government to investigate and trial alternative packaging and transport options for broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus, celery and lettuce crop producers in Victoria.

Cherry Growers Australia received A$750k to support the development of a ‘chemical use for export toolkit’ to allow businesses planning to export their produce so they can more easily meet the expectations of international markets.

Citrus Australia and the Australian Table Grape Association (ATGA) received A$1.4m to lead two innovative traceability pilots for premium fruit, which  include using leading technology, isotope testing, cool-chain tracking and orchard mapping to enhance traceability. This will aim to safeguard the industry from fraudulent products and ensure that the integrity of premium fruit brands and varieties is protected. As regards table grapes ATGA has partnered with Agriculture Victoria for its A$650k pilot project, which commenced in June 2021 and will run for the duration of the 2021/22 table grape harvest season. Improvement in traceability will be developed by Technology provider Result Group, who will apply unique serialised GS1 Digital Link-enabled QR code labels to export table grapes, allowing the automated collection of data from farm and supply chain. This information can be shared with consumers to authenticate the food’s precise origin and engage with the brand through an open platform smartphone scan.

Read the article here or the ATGA Press Release

"Grappa" is a traditional Italian spirit drink produced from the distillation of fermented grape marc and seeds after winemaking. In the EU Spirit Drink Regulations, "grappa" is a protected name, and it has to be produced from Italian cultivated and processed grapes. Italian researchers have developed a method to authenticate "grappa" using alcohol measurement and gas chromatography analysis of the volatiles on 123 spirit samples. Of these, 43 were "grappa" and the others were spirit drinks from wine, grapes, apples and pears. The samples were divided into a training set (94 samples) of a chemometric model using linear discriminant analysis (LDA), and a validation set (29 samples) was used to test the model and gave good discrimination between the different types of spirits.

Two suspicious samples of "grappa" seized by Italian customs were also examined and analysed. Visual examination revealed differences in the cork closures and barcodes. The analytical results on the chemometric model indicated the two samples were wine spirit rather than "grappa".  A further chemometric model was calculated, based on principal component analysis (PCA), which indicated that the two samples were different from wine spirit, and it was concluded that they were an adulterated "grappa" rather than wine spirit. The adulteration was not identified, and further investigation is required. However, the approach developed in this research would serve as a rapid test to authenticate "grappa", and samples not fitting the chemometric models would require further analysis if not fitting exactlyinto the different types of spirit. It is also a useful exercise in developing a method to verify a protected name in food law.

Read the full open access paper

In this paper, a new approach to rapid pork detection was developed using an amplification-free and mix-to-read CRISPR-Cas12-based nucleic acid analytical strategy. An optimized guide RNA (gRNA) targeting the pork cytochrome b (Cyt b) gene was designed, which allowed specific identification of the target Cyt b gene in pork components. Activation of Cas12 protein to cleave single-stranded DNA probes with terminally labelled fluorophore and quencher groups then allowed confirmation of the presence of pork Cytb by reading the fluorescence signal. The assay allowed specific detection of pork in beef, mutton, and chicken products, The reliability of the method was tested on processed halal meat products - beef luncheon meat and spiced beef, as well as non-halal foods - sausage and dried pork slices.

Read the abstract and supporting information here

Foreword by the Government Chemist

Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) is a powerful tool for rapidly and cost-effectively identifying and characterising plant, animal and microbial species present in mixed food samples.

The application of NGS to food authenticity, adulteration and safety testing is a constantly evolving field with its own unique set of challenges that need to be explored. Further work needs to be conducted to better understand the performance characteristics and establish relevant performance criteria and metrics, to enable results generated in different laboratories to be compared and interpreted with equal confidence.

Following concerns raised from food industry members on the use of NGS for the quantitative determination of food ingredients, the Government Chemist engaged with Defra’s Authenticity Methodology Working Group (AMWG) [1] and its Technical Sub-Group (AMWG-TSG), resulting in the AMWG producing a view [2] on the use of NGS for food authenticity testing [3].

Download Defra’s Authenticity Methodology Working Group’s view on the use of Next Generation Sequencing for food authenticity testing

[1] An independent expert group that provides scientific and technical advice to support Defra’s food authenticity programme.

[2] The views/opinions expressed by AMWG were correct at the time of the note (November 2020).

[3] Government Chemist representatives: Selvarani Elahi, Deputy Government Chemist, is the Chair of AMWG and Dr Malcolm Burns, Head of GMO unit, Principal Scientist and Special Advisor to the Government Chemist, is a Member of AMWG; they both participated in the AMWG-TSG meeting on NGS and subsequent discussions, inputting into the AMWG view on NGS.

 2020 Annual Food Fraud report: Fight against food fraud in Europe continued despite the COVID-19 pandemic 

Today, the European Commission has published the 2020 annual report of the EU Agri-Food Fraud Network (EU FFN) and the Administrative Assistance and Cooperation system for Food Fraud (AAC-FF).

In five years, the number of cases created per year has more than doubled, going from 157 in 2016 to 349 in 2020. The increased interaction between Member States within the EU Agri-Food Fraud Network has shown that fight against food fraud in Europe is tightening up. Sharing information on suspected cross-border fraud violations has proven to be essential in better identifying, investigating and protecting EU customers against illegal practices.

The EU FFN also works with the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) in joint actions targeting counterfeited foodstuff. In 2020, members of the network were also engaged in OPSON - a joint Europol/Interpol initiative targeting trafficking in fake and substandard food and beverages and operation LAKE, which focused on the trafficking of the protected European eel (Anguilla Anguilla) species.

More information on the EU FFN can be found here.

The European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) has published its July-August 2021 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.

In addition to the news items above, there are also references to many interesting articles including an overview of blockchain, guidelines against fraud for tea and herbs, and a recent WWF report on sharkmeat.

You can download the July-Aug 2021 Food Fraud Summary here

The tea market has an annual global value of £15 billion with a 10% annual growth rate. The ASSET Technology Centre based at Queens University Belfast (and one of the Network's Centres of Expertise) has received funding from Agilent (the Thought leader Award) to use a range of analytical methods to test teas from different geographical origins and produce a 'chemical fingerprinting' map. It is hoped that the map will be able to check the origin of the tea to prevent mislabelling, and also the presence of known bulking agents (such as Prussian Blue, coal tar dye, indigo, soapstone, plumbago and gypsum) will be tested for. Prof Elliott, who heads the project, does not underestimate the challenge tea presents in its complex composition, as well as the complicated nature of tea production.

Read the article here

The aim of this study by Brazilian researchers was to identify authenticity markers to distinguish between true and false cinnamon, and use mid-infrared spectroscopy (MIR) with chemometric analysis as a fast screening method. A  total of 129 samples of cinnamon were obtained from Brazil, Sri Lanka and Paraguay. The samples were analysed by hplc (high performance liquid chromatography) and MIR. The levels of eugenol, cinnamaldehyde and coumarin were measured.  Samples of true cinnamon had higher levels of eugenol and cinnamaldehyde and lower levels of coumarin, and they also had higher antioxidant activity. Principal component analysis (PCA) of both the hplc and MIR results was able to separate the two types of cinnamon, and partial least square discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) was able to differentiate between the true and false cinnamon with 94.4% and 100% accuracy for the compositional analysis and MIR respectively.

Read the abstract here

Skipjack tuna (Katsuwonus pelamis) is the most commercialised species of tuna in canned tuna. Chinese scientist have developed a novel loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) assay targeting the cytochrome b gene for rapid screening of skipjack tuna. LAMP primers were designed so that they were specific for skipjack tuna, and the specificity was confirmed against 22 other fish species. The LAMP assay could detect as low as 50 pg skipjack tuna DNA, by both colorimetric and real time fluorescent determination. The LAMP assay was tested on 39 canned tuna products, and only 4 samples contained skipjack tuna. The LAMP results were also confirmed by DNA sequencing, hence the novel LAMP method can be used for rapid screening of skipjack tuna in canned  fish products. 

Read the abstract here