All Posts (1452)

Sort by

10907279071?profile=RESIZE_710x

Screening assays, for example, lateral flow assays (LFAs), can improve traceability, but often lack the required reliability. This paper gives an alternative approach for secure on-site compliance testing, using allergens as a case study. As a screening assay, a smartphone raw image analysis of the LFA gives an initial quantification of the proteins separated in the LFA . The proteins are then extracted from the LFA, and analysed by LC-MS (liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry) to quantify them more accurately. This approach was applied successfully to the allergenic proteins in peanuts and gluten.  

Read the full open access paper

Read more…

10906483480?profile=RESIZE_710x

The European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) has published its November 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.

Also included in the Summary is an interesting article by Euronews on the fight against fraud in the spice sector, which includes a reference to the work of JRC's Food Fraud Unit. There is also reference to an article in Nature, which summarises the current state of knowledge on organised crime (e.g. fraud, drug trafficking and forced labour) in the fisheries sector.  

You can download the November 2022 Summary here

Read more…

New Food Crime Video by the NFCU

The Food Standards Agency's National Food Crime Unit (NFCU) has published a video on the types of food crime you might come across and how to report it.



The NFCU and partners tackle food crime every day to make sure food is safe to eat and is what it says it is.

NFCU colleagues work closely with the food industry to ensure that businesses are well-informed and prepared so they know how to spot food crime and stop it.

Read more…

10905330490?profile=RESIZE_180x180 A criminal network (41 arrests) have been closed down by this joint operation, which involved the illegal sale of horsemeat, and linked to a number of crimes including food fraud, money laundering and document fraud concerning the untraceable sale of horsemeat on the Spanish, Belgian, German and Italian markets. The criminal network acquired horses across Spain either free or for Euros 100 because they were not fit for human consumption. They were slaughtered in an illegal abattoir, transported and given false veterinary documentation, and butchered before selling them, and generating illegal profits of about Euros 1.5 million.

. Read the Europol press release

Read more…

10905249693?profile=RESIZE_400xAdulteration of meat products using offal is one of the routes of fraud. This paper describes a method developed to detect the presence of pork liver by identifying specific peptide markers from its trypsin digest using  liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. Although 74 specific peptides were initially identified from thermally processed pork liver, after examining peptides derived from heat processed pate-type products, five specific peptides were chosen as authenticity markers to confirm the presence of pork liver in highly processed meat products.  

Read the abstract here

Read more…

10905030096?profile=RESIZE_584x

This study used Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), visible near-infrared spectroscopy (Vis-NIR) and excitation-emission matrix fluorescence spectroscopy (EEMs) combined with chemometrics to distinguish different types of edible vegetable oils. A set of 147 samples of five vegetable oils from different brands were analysed by the three different spectroscopic methods. After chemometric analysis of the spectra, the total correct recognition rate of the training set and prediction set of FTIR spectra was 100% for both, and for Vis-NIR spectra was 100% and 97.6% based on the PLS-DA method. However, the total correct recognition rate of training set and prediction set of EEMs data based on N-PLS-DA method was only 69.39% and 75.51%, respectively. The comparative study showed that FTIR and Vis-NIR combined with chemometrics were more suitable for vegetable oil species identification than EEMs technique, probably because of a small amount of fluorophores in the oils.

Read the abstract here

Read more…

10902380899?profile=RESIZE_400x

In this study, a pocket-sized spectrometer and multivariate analysis were used for rapid authentication of coffee varieties (Arabica and Robusta) in three physical states (raw beans, roasted beans and powdered beans) to check mislabelling and fraud. Two main coffee varieties were collected from different locations in Africa, and the three physical states were scanned in the 740–1070 nm wavelength range. The spectral data were pre-treated with several  derivative-based methods followed by chemometric analysis to build the prediction models for coffee beans (raw, roasted and powdered).  The best results  obtained for raw coffee beans was an accuracy of 0.92 and efficiency of 0.82; for roasted coffee beans, an accuracy of 0.92 and efficiency of 0.87; while for roasted powdered coffee, an accuracy of 0.97 and efficiency of 0.97. The results reveal that for a more accurate differentiation of coffee beans, the roasted powder offers the best results. 

Read the abstract here

Read more…

10902345862?profile=RESIZE_710x

REIMS is a direct tissue metabolic profiling technique used to accurately classify tissues using available mass spectral databases. This study was made to evaluate the reproducibility of the analytical equipment, methodology and tissue classification algorithms using a single-source reference material across four sites with identical equipment in the UK, Hungary, The Netherlands, and Canada. This was followed by each site analysing four different types of locally-sourced food-grade animal tissue.  Tissue recognition models were created at each site using multivariate statistical analysis based on the different metabolic profiles, and these models were tested against data obtained at the other sites. Cross-validation by site resulted in 100% correct classification of two reference tissues and 69–100% correct classification for food-grade meat samples. The latter was caused by differences in animal tissue from local sources leading to significant variability in the accuracy of an individual site’s model. The  results inform future multi-site REIMS studies applied to clinical and food samples, and emphasise the importance of carefully-annotated samples that encompass sufficient population diversity.  

Read the full open access paper

Read more…

10895626065?profile=RESIZE_710x

UK Hospitality has published a Catering Industry Guide to Good Hygiene Practice that mentions food fraud and food crime for the first time.

The industry guide to good hygiene practice provides information on legal obligations for caterers and the practical requirements to comply with food hygiene law. The guide also offers advice to operators on good practice, which although is not a legal requirement, is likely to contribute to the overall achievement of food safety and customer satisfaction.

The guide has been developed by the food industry and is recognised by the Food Standards Agency and Food Standards Scotland, in accordance with Article 8 of Retained Regulation (EC) No. 852/2004.

What changes have been made to the guide?

The updated version of the guide includes four new sections:

  1. Food crime
  2. Surplus food donating leftover food to charity
  3. Freezing and defrosting of food
  4. Chilled vacuum-packed meats – shelf life

Cost and format

An E-copy is free to download, you can access it here

A printed copy is available at a cost of £25 + postage for UKH members, and £35 + postage for non-members. To order your printed copy, please complete your details here

Read more…

10893906085?profile=RESIZE_710xIsotope ratio data are increasingly used in a variety of fields including, ecology, marine sciences, earth and geosciences, forensic science, hydrology, medicine, food (including food authenticity and origin), and climate science.
 
Over the years, there have also been changes to guidelines for measurement methods, calibration conventions and even to international measurement standards that form the base of the traceability chain for isotope delta values for H, C, N, O and S.
 
It is impossible to combine isotope ratio data from a variety of sources unless the data are accompanied by a clear description of traceability and other method details.

The UK National Measurement Laboratory at LGC was part of an international group that compiled the IUPAC Technical Report presenting minimum requirements for reporting isotope ratio data, covering analytical procedure, traceability, data processing and uncertainty evaluation.

This report will help in the standardisation of methods that involve the measurement of stable isotopes.

Read the IUPAC Technical Report on minimum requirements for publishing hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and sulfur stable-isotope delta results.

Read more…

10891512296?profile=RESIZE_180x180This new book is timely given the recent increase in sales of vegan food in particular. It aims to deal with the issues and science related to the authenticity of the most important plant foods such as cereals, nuts, legumes, table olives and olive oil, coffee, tea, fruits and vegetables, fruit juices, spices, mushrooms, beers and wines, and honey, using state-of-the-art analytical techniques and instrumentation coupled with available chemometric tools.

More information on the contents here

 

Read more…

10890131664?profile=RESIZE_584x

Traditional cheeses, with protected names (PDO/PGI) are sold at a premium and hence can be susceptible to substitution and fraud. This review reports the available authentication methods, either chemical, physical, or DNA-based methods, currently used for origin authentication, highlighting their principle, reported application to cheese geographical origin authentication, performance, and respective advantages and limits. Isotope and elemental fingerprinting showed consistent accuracy in origin authentication. Other chemical and physical methods, such as near-infrared spectroscopy and NMR, require more studies and larger sampling to assess their discriminative power. Emerging DNA-based methods, such as metabarcoding, showed good potential for origin authentication. However, metagenomics, providing a more in-depth view of the cheese microbiota (up to the strain level) is an interesting approach to authenticate the origin of cheeses, but is still in its early development.

Read the full open access paper.

Read more…

10889619693?profile=RESIZE_710x

Oregano has been identified as one of the herbs most susceptible to adulteration. Methods based on DNA, spectroscopic analysis and even microscopy have already been used. In this paper, a new approach for authentication of oregano, which combines metabarcoding by NGS (next generation sequencing) and metabolomics/chemometrics by NMR, has been developed. The industry standard for oregano permits only 2% extraneous matter. A previous survey on oregano has shown that the most common plant adulterants are olive, sweet marjoram and myrtle leaves, and non-leaf plant material. In this study, 92 oregano, 38 sweet marjoram, and 2 olive leaf samples from 6 different countries in total were used. Metabarcoding by NGS was used to identify the nature of oregano products and possible adulterations. Metabolomic profiles obtained by NMR correlated well with oregano species and their regional origin. Using chemometric analysis, it was possible to quantify of the percentage of an adulterant with error rates of 3–7%.

Read the open access paper here

Read more…

10889354257?profile=RESIZE_400xGiven that laboratory based analytical methods are time-consuming and require trained operators, there is an increasing need and developement of portable on-site or point of need (PON) testing. These are rapid, low cost and give results in real-time for both qualitative and quantitative screening for food quality, authenticity and safety. This process automatisation through process analytical technologies (PAT) is an increasing trend in the food industry as a way to achieve improved product quality, safety, and consistency, reduced production cycle times, minimal product waste or reworks, and the possibility for real-time product release. These techniques could also be used by consumers for end point testing, or farmers and small producers to monitor products in the field. This development requires the attention of the research community and device manufacturers to ensure reliability of measurement results from PAT strategy and PON tests through the demonstration and critical evaluation of performance characteristics. The authors warn that the fitness for purpose of methods in real-life conditions is a priority that should not be overlooked in order to maintain an effective and harmonised food safety policy and food fraud prevention.

Read the full open access paper.

Read more…

 

10886144077?profile=RESIZE_584xIn this paper, which also utilised CRISPR, the researchers combined loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) with a sensitive CRISPR-Cas12a silver nanocluster fluorescence sensing system, for testing for adulteration in meat samples. The specific sequence recognition of CRISPR-Cas12a allowed accurate identification of the target DNA. 

Read the abstract here

Read more…

10886132856?profile=RESIZE_584x

CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats)-Cas(CRISPR-associated protein) is derived from a microbial antiviral system and is commonly associated with cutting edge gene editing. However, the system can also be adapted for diagnostic applications inclusive of novel approaches for food authenticity and adulteration testing.

In this paper, the Chinese research team coupled PCR amplification with a CRISPR-Cas12a based colorimetric system to indicate the presence of DNA barcoding targets by a visible colour change. The whole detection process including PCR amplification and TMB ( 3,3′,5,5′-tetramethylbenzidine sulfate) colorimetric analysis can be completed within 90 minutes.This sensitive assay was verified by the identification of four important species of pufferfish,

Read the abstract here

Read more…

New Entry: “Which foods are most adulterated”?

“Which foods are most adulterated”? is a question that the Food Authenticity Network is frequently asked, so the Network is delighted to be collaborating with FoodChain ID to provide this information. Foods most reported as being fraudulent is based on data from the FoodChain ID Food Fraud Database, and it will be reviewed and posted on an annual basis in the Food Fraud Prevention section of the Food Authenticity Network website.

The data on the website is for the last 10 years up to 2021. The category "Other" covers mainly ingredients that do not fit into any of the other categories list, e.g. tree nuts/peanuts, sweeteners/non-nutritive sweeteners (other than honey), and various food additives.It also includes some composite food such as ready meals. The data has already been published in an article written by Dr Karen Everstine of FoodChain ID in the Network's June 2022 Newsletter.

 

Read more…

10885128681?profile=RESIZE_400x

The SFCIU lists the red meat sector as high risk for food crime based on its past and present targeting by criminals across the supply chain. The potential risks to the industry are:

  • Fraudulent use of ID tags, cattle passports, accreditation etc.;
  • Mislabelling of durability date;
  • Other origin red meat sold as Scottish;
  • Lower quality of product misrepresented as premium;
  • Stolen livestock;
  • Illegal slaughter;
  • Animal by-products;
  • Food crime occurring in other meat products such as ready meals.

Read the article here

Read more…

Food Fraud: a Joint Nordic Threat Assessment

10885049698?profile=RESIZE_400xThis publication examines the joint threats arising from criminal activity in the Nordic food production chain. The countries participating in the project are Norway (leader), Denmark, Iceland and Sweden. It summarises and draws from the discussions which took place at a methodology seminar for participants in December 2018, the purpose of which was to discuss what a threat assessment is, and what is known about fraud and deception in the Nordic market. International experts from the UK and the USA, as well as experts from the Nordic customs authorities and the police, also participated in this seminar. In 2019, Denmark, Norway and Sweden carried out national threat assessments as a contribution to this Nordic report. Finally, a seminar for Icelandic Food and Veterinary Authority inspectors and local inspectors was arranged in Iceland and was also attended by US participants.

Read the full report here

Read more…

 

10884938055?profile=RESIZE_400xThis review is a chapter in a book entitled "Blockchain in Finance, Marketing and Others". It explains the workings of blockchain, and its applicability in monitoring and verifying the data and information in the food chain from farm to fork. It covers how blockchain can address the challenges faced in ensuring food supplies deal with food safety, food fraud and food waste issues, as well as its benefits.

Read the full chapter here

Read more…