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10482284266?profile=RESIZE_400xA Peer reviewed papaer of an interlaboratory comparison of a Liquid Chromatography-Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry (LC-IRMS) method for the determination of 13C/12ratios of saccharides in honey has been published.

This paper is based on a European Comission Joint Research Centre report, which was previosly reported on the Food Authenticity Network: EC Publishes report on the Interlaboratory Comparison of LC-IRMS applied on honey - News - FoodAuthenticity

Stable carbon isotope analysis of sugars in honey by LC–IRMS is a useful tool for detecting adulteration of honey with extraneous sugar.

Syrups that mimic the composition of honey that are produced by chemical and/or enzymatic modification of starch or sucrose are difficult to detect (10). If the starting product is obtained from a C4 plant, such as maize or sugar cane, stable carbon isotope ratio analysis (SCIRA) using a combination of an elemental analyzer (EA) and an isotope ratio mass spectrometer (IRMS) offers a possibility to detect additions down to a level of 7% (11).

Sugars originating from C3 plants such as beet root or generated from rice or wheat starch escape detection by SCIRA. Combining LC with IRMS (LC–IRMS) offers new possibilities for detecting honey adulteration with sugars derived from C3 plants and increases the sensitivity for detecting C4 sugars (1213).

Addition of 1% C4 sugars and 10% C3 sugars can be reliably detected using the LC–IRMS approach. Another benefit is that, as the method determines the 13C/12ratios of saccharides in honey, it moves away from reliance on external databases.

The method has gained popularity (14–20) but has never been subjected to multilaboratory validation, until now, which is a prerequisite for further developing it into a standard by a standards-developing organization. This peer reviewed publication reports on an interlaboratory comparison of this method. Read open access paper.

This method has now been accepted as a work item for standardisation by Working Group 6 (Stable Isotope Analysis) of CEN Technical Committee 460 (Food Authenticity).

 

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10479696676?profile=RESIZE_400xIn this paper, a quantitative method based on LC-HRMS (liquid chromatography-high resolution mass spectrometry) for the simultaneous detection and differentiation of milk type from eight different animal species (namely: cow, water buffalo, wild yak, goat, sheep, donkey, horse, and camel) was developed by detecting species specific peptides originating from casein. The use of stable isotope labelled peptides was adopted in the developed method in order to increase its accuracy and precision. The developed method was validated in-house in terms of sensitivity, accuracy, and precision. It was also used in a market survey of 46 commercial minor species’ milk products, in which 15 samples were deemed to be mislabelled.

Read the abstract here

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Arabica coffee beans have twice the value, or more, compared to Robusta beans, and consequently are susceptible to substitution. In this study, MSI was applied to discriminate roasted Arabica and Robusta coffee beans and perform a quantitative prediction of Arabica coffee bean adulteration with Robusta. Using selected spectral and morphological features from individual coffee beans, and applying an OPLS-DA (orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis) model, a 100% correct classification of the two coffee species in the test dataset was achieved. In addition, the OPLS regression model was able to successfully predict the level of adulteration of Arabica with Robusta. 

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There are 144 EVOOs registered with protected denomination of origin (PDOs) and protected geographical indication (PGIs), which may be vulnerable to fraudulent practices because of their high economic value. This study aimed to develop an instrumental tool to assess the compliance of PDO EVOOs from Catalonia. A sample set of 350 EVOOs were collected from different regions of Catalonia (260 samples)  over 3 growing seasons, and the rest of the EVOO and VOO samples (90) came from other Mediterranean producing countries (Greece, Italy, Morocco, Tunisia, and Turkey). Discriminant analysis based on the sesquiterpene hydrocarbon fingerprint determined by HS-SPME-GC-MS (headspace solid-phase microextraction coupled to gas chromatography–mass spectrometry) followed by chemometric analysis of the samples achieved a correct classification of 93.6% of samples among the four Catalan regional PDOs. However, the method achieved a discrimination between each Catalan PDO and the non-PDO samples, produced in different geographical areas with an efficiency between 95% and 99%.

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Rice is one othe most consumed foods globally, and different subgroups of rice varieties have different sales values e.g. Basmati rice is much more expensive than non-Basmati long grained rice. This paper by Portuguese researchers reviews DNA-based methods because they are considered particularly reliable and stable for discrimination of rice varieties. The review covers the diversity of strategies and ongoing improvements already tested, highlighting important advantages and disadvantages in terms of costs, reliability, labour-effort and potential scalability for routine fraud detection.

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10479317261?profile=RESIZE_400x Given the price differential between goat milk and cow milk, methods to determine goat milk adulteration are important. Chinese researchers developed methodology to determine β-carotene and its metabolites based on various spectroscopic techniques combined with an extraction method using a cold-induced acetonitrile aqueous two-phase separation system in order to weaken the interaction between β-lactoglobulin and β-carotene metabolites. Validation showed that β-carotene is distinctive biomarker in cow milk, and retinol, retinaldehyde, retinoic acid and abscisic acid in goat milk.  

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10472616083?profile=RESIZE_400xThis paper reports the validation exercise undertaken in the Defra project FA0171. Where samples were prepared using raw meat admixtures or processed horse/pork in beef food products made to an industry-standard recipe. Two real-time PCR methods were subjected to a single laboratory method validation, evaluating the performance characteristics of specificity, PCR efficiency and r-squared (r2), Limit of Detection (LOD), Limit of Quantitation (LOQ), and precision and trueness. Then a limited UK-based inter-laboratory trial of the two methods was completed involving four participating laboratories. Full statistical analysis of the data qualified the applicability of the methods for accurate and sensitive trace-level analysis. The methods were deemed fit for purpose for reproducibly distinguishing between adventitious contamination at 0.1% (w/w), and the level for further enforcement action at 1% (w/w).

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10472549478?profile=RESIZE_400xFood fraud lawsuits brought by consumers rather than government bodies, are on the rise in the USA. In New York federal courts alone, 100 cases were brought in 2020, 4 times the number in 2015. Many of the lawsuits target the description of the ingredients and those not disclosed on the products ingredient list. This article outlines the rise in litigation, where most cases are settled out of court, and those which go to court are often dismissed. Examples of cases include the use of the term vanilla, and whether "vanilla flavoured" should contain vanilla from vanilla beans. Many of these cases are as a result of  weaknesses in US food legislation compared to the EU, which has better defined food labelling, standards and voluntary claims legislation.   

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10472537677?profile=RESIZE_400xThis study examines the use of blockchain from farm to fork to increase food safety/security and integrity by increasing the transparency of the monitoring systems in the supply chain. Blockchain ensures that all the data from farm to fork is shared, but cannot be tampered with, by the different actors along the supply chain.TinyML is a new technology device, which is embedded in the food consignement and monitors any abnormalities as a result of spoilage, faulty machine operation, or attempts to tamper with the monitoring devices.

Read the open access paper here

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10472462083?profile=RESIZE_400x In the Islamic and Jewish religions certain animals and seafood are forbidden.  Pork is forbidden to eat for both religions, and in Judaism, only animals which have cloven hooves and chew the cud can be consumed. This review looks at the different methods and techniques to determine the species of meat, or meat based ingredients and derived fats in halal/kosher foods. It does not address the other aspect of halal/kosher foods, namely the method of slaughter of the animal.

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10468799056?profile=RESIZE_400xThis article, by one of our Food Authenticity Centres of Expertise, summaries the potential problems to the food supply chain to Western Europe as a result of the war in Ukraine, and in particular, the effects of exports from Ukraine, Russia and Belarus.

Ukraine is a major exporter of cereals especially wheat, sunflower oil, soyabean oil, soyabeans and soyabean cake, honey and dried pulses and legumes.

Russia is a major exporter of fish, cereals, sunflower oil and poultrymeat.

An assessment of impact and risks is given by commodity type.

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10449250084?profile=RESIZE_584xThe FSA has issued a final call for evidence linking products to applications on the public list. The CBD public list shows which products have a credible application for authorisation with the FSA.

Businesses have until 26 May 2022 to submit evidence that their products are linked to a credible application and were on the market before February 2020.

CBD Public List: Register of CBD products linked to novel food applications

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10449178488?profile=RESIZE_400xThis newsletter is intended to keep you informed of what the National Food Crime Unit (NFCU) believe to be the current issues that are affecting the food industry. It aims to improve awareness of significant or new trends in the food industry in order to strengthen the overall response to food crime.

The newsletter is available to FoodAuthenticity members by kind permission of the FSA National Food Crime Unit, but is not intended for onward dissemination. Please contact the NFCU Outreach Team if you would like others to receive this newsletter at: NFCU.Outreach@food.gov.uk.

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10449173091?profile=RESIZE_400xAs part of its mission to tackle the plastic pollution challenge and help advance a world where no plastic ends up in nature, The Consumer Goods Forum's (CGF) Plastic Waste Coalition of Action (the Coalition) is pleased to announce the publication of a Vision and Principles Paper, entitled "Chemical Recycling in a Circular Economy for Plastics" which encourages the development of new plastics recycling technologies that meet six key principles for credible, safe and environmentally sound development.

In support of this position paper, the Coalition has also published a new independent Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) study, that demonstrates that the chemical recycling of hard-to-recycle plastic waste could reduce the climate impact of plastic when compared to waste-to-energy incineration.

Read non-technical executive summary of "Assessing the Life Cycle Environmental Impacts of Post-consumer Plastic Film Made from Plastic Waste Through Pyrolysis-based Chemical Recycling Technologies"

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In response to many questions posted in the chat of the Webinar on the Global Honey Supply Chain that took place on 19 January 2022, the page on the Government Chemist website has been updated with work in progress on honey authenticity:

"This webinar and the consequent e-seminar is part of a suite of activities Defra, FSA, FSS and the Government Chemist are jointly working on to address some of the underpinning scientific issues that have emerged on the subject of honey testing and a number of workstreams are in progress.

Two further e-seminars, which will assist in disseminating information on honey authenticity testing, are in production. These cover using NMR testing for the determination of exogenous sugars in honey and best practice in establishing and curating databases for food authenticity. Work is also underway to develop guidance on applying a weight of evidence approach for food authenticity analysis, to pilot accreditation of non-targeted authenticity testing methods, to improve consistency and confidence in testing and reporting and to explore a data trust framework to share information on the honey supply chain and testing between interested communities. This will be followed by activity to standardise a protocol for the collection of authentic honey samples and to establish a framework for the scrutiny of authenticity databases. We are collaborating with key stakeholders on all these initiatives to secure the best outcome for all.

FSA’s blog on the complexities of honey authenticity, includes links to the recently published Government Chemist independent review of methods for honey authenticity testing and of the analytical reports underpinning recent allegations of honey fraud."

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This e-seminar, by Cathal Henigan, Purchasing Director at Valeo Foods UK, will provide an introduction to the subject of the global honey supply chain.

Topics covered in this short presentation include an overview of the role of beekeeping, honey extraction and honey processing. In addition, key aspects of relevant legislation are described, such as the control of pests and diseases, honey composition, and control of the export and sale of honey. Details of the global market for honey are also described as well as an assessment of the risk to the supply chain through criminal activities such as food fraud.

The e-seminar is intended for individuals currently working within the food testing arena, the food industry, and those involved with the UK official control system.

The production of this e-seminar was co-funded by the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the Food Standards Agency, Food Standards Scotland and the Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy, via the Government Chemist, under the Joint Knowledge Transfer Framework for Food Standards and Food Safety Analysis.

This e-seminar has also been added to the Food Authenticity Network's Training section.

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The e-seminar provides guidance and best practice on establishing an in-house NGS capability, including Instrument selection and placement, supporting equipment, and staffing requirements. The e-seminar also considers other factors in setting up an NGS facility, such as the need for adequate data storage and data streaming capabilities.

The information presented will equip the viewer with the necessary knowledge and skills to broaden their scope of food safety, authenticity, and quality testing, and is essential viewing for any molecular biologist working in the area of foods analysis, who is considering extending their knowledge into this technique.

The e-seminar is intended for individuals currently working within the food allergens testing arena, the food industry, and those involved with the UK official control system.

The production of this e-seminar was co-funded by the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the Food Standards Agency, Food Standards Scotland and the Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy, via the Government Chemist, under the Joint Knowledge Transfer Framework for Food Standards and Food Safety Analysis.

This e-seminar has also been added to the Food Authenticity Network's Training section.

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The European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) has published its March 2022 Food Fraud Monthly Summary reporting food fraud incidents and investigations from around the world.

Food fraud cases reported involved:

  • wine
  • alcoholic beverages
  • milk and milk products
  • cereals
  • meat products
  • eggs
  • olive oil
  • seafood
  • soft drinks
  • nuts
  • honey
  • spices
  • pet food
  • vegetables.
Thanks to our Members Riccardo Siligato PhD LLM and Bruno Sechet for creating the monthly summary and infographic respectively.
 

You can download the March 2022 Summary here.

 

 

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This study aimed to construct a two-tube hexaplex PCR (polymerase chain reaction) assay to authenticate twelve meat species. Primers were specifically designed to identify the target 12 species - horse, pigeon, camel, rabbit, ostrich, beef, as well as turkey, dog, chicken, duck, cat, and goose, and no untargeted primers were used. The assay was found to be specific, sensitive and reproducible. The assay was also tested on DNA extracted from meat which had been boiled or  microwave-cooked, and was still able to identify the meat species. The proof of principle to  identify many species simultaneously has been shown in this study, and could be adapted to cover different or less/more species.

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Consumption of chia, flax and seame seeds has increased because of their nutritional and functional properties. An untargeted metabolomics approach was used in this study with H/D NMR, compared to previous mass spectrometry based targeted approaches. Three groups of  metabolites - polyphenol based caffeoyl derivatives and lignans, and cyanogenic glycosides  were identified in the 3 seeds, and seven authenticity markers (polyphenol based and cyanogenic glycosides) were able to distinguish between the 3 types of raw seeds. The authenticity markers in sesame seeds were validated by combining different concentrations in cookies and baking them. Two of the markers were unchanged by the baking process and regarded as good indicators of sesame seed authenticity in baked products.

Read the abstract here

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