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European standardization in the field of food and feed contributes to improving levels of food safety and protecting the health of consumers. CEN (European Committee for Standardization) provides validated test methods that are used by the food industry and by the competent public authorities for official control purposes and by food- and feed-producing companies for internal checks.
Many of the standards adopted by CEN are developed in response to formal requests from the European Commission, and these standards play a valuable role in supporting the implementation of relevant European legislation.
The majority of European Standards in this field (around 70%) are identical to international standards as a result of the close and continuous cooperation between CEN and ISO (International Standards Organization). Having test methods that are recognized internationally is especially important for food companies that want to sell their products in many different markets.
Food authenticity has been identified as a new area of interest for most of the CEN Technical Committees working in the food and feed safety field. In 2017, CEN established a Food Authenticity Coordination Group (FACG) including representatives of various committees involved (at which the Food Authenticity Network was represented), in order to map existing methods, determine their degree of validation and identify European standardization needs. The long-term goal will be standardization of the methods required both by the industry and by the official control laboratories, with the aim of preventing and combating food fraud newly defined by European legislation.
To take the discussions on standardisation needs further, we would like to gather your views with regards what you consider should be the top 5 priorities of the different lab methods shown below that should be taken forward for standardization:
| No. | Title | Tested characteristic(s) |
| 1 | Fish species if labelled ( in raw products) | Cytochrom-b-sequences |
| 2 | Species of crabs if labelled | 16S rRNA-Sequences |
| 3 | Identificartion of fish species inr raw and heated products | Cytochrom-b-Sequence |
| 4 | Identification of horse meat | horse-specific DNA sequences |
| 5 | Detection of beef, pork, turkey and chicken in sausage products | Beef, pork, turkey, chicken |
| 6 | Detection of beef, pork, sheep, equides in sausages | Spezific DNA-sequences |
| 7 | Identity of natural (chiral) flavourings in foods | Enantiomeres |
| 8 | Content of relevant or specially labelled characteristics and ingredients in bakeries or pasta (z.B. biscuit, egg containing bakery or pasta) | Cholesterol |
| 9 | Content and purity of relevant or specially labelled contents of butter in bread or bakeries (z. B. pyramid cakes, butter toast) | Fat content |
| 11 | Performance of quality requirements of meat and sausage products if labelled | Water |
| 12 | Protein | |
| 13 | Fat | |
| 14 | Hydroxyproline | |
| 15 | Enhancement of water retention in meat and meat products | Phosphate |
| 16 | Identification of colourings in sausage products | Angkak, sandalwood, carminic acid and water soluble azocolourings |
| 17 | Determination of free amino acids in meat products (i.e. detection of the addition of proteinhydrolysates) | Free amino acids |
| 18 | Detection of the histology of meat products | |
| 19 | Detection of soya in cooked sausage | Soya specific DNA |
| 20 | Detection of GMO in foodstuffs | Specific DNA-sequenzes |
| 21 | Detection of starch in ground cheese | Starch |
| 22 | genetically modification of Streptococcus thermophilus in yoghurt | PCR |
| 23 | Contens of nutrients, vitamins and minerals in foodstuffs - if labelled VO (EC) Nr. 1924/2006 | e.g. Sugar |
| 24 | e.g. Fat content | |
| 25 | e. g. Protein content | |
| 26 | e. g. Trace elements | |
| 27 | Some specific methods are recommended by CODEX ALIMENTARIUS but currently not standardized at European level (for example: Maize oil – Determination of carbon isotope ratio) | |
| 28 | Some methods of IOC (International Olive Council) (for example: triglycerides composition) are also not standardized at European level | |
| 29 | For the question of geographical origin of olive oils there are also validated methods (triglycerides (ISO/TS 17383), isotope analysis) | |
| 30 | The Horsemeat CT | |
| 31 | Labelfish project - Genetic Identification of Fish Species using DNA Barcoding (FA0116) | |
| 32 | Method to determine the species of origin of gelatine found in chicken by mass spectrometry | |
| 33 | Improved HADH method to detect previously frozen poultry (FA0114) | |
| 34 |
Other methods listed on Food Authenticity Network http://www.foodauthenticity.uk/methods |
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| 35 | isotopic methods in wine could be considered ready for standardization. All Member States apply these methods, in accordance with Regulation 555/2008 (2676/1990). The aim is to create a European Databank of isotopic characteristics of wines, coordinated by the Joint Research Centre of EU. The Wine Databank contains authentic samples from all varieties and all geographical regions of Europe. Since normal values or limits cannot be established, in the case of a suspect sample from the market, its isotopic characteristics are compared with those of the authentic wines of the Databank. Chemometric techniques are used for the evaluation of the data. Reg. 2676/90: determining Community methods for the analysis of wines · Determination of isotopic ratios D/H in wines and grape must (by SNIF-NMR) · Determination of isotopic ratio 18O/16O of the water content in wines (by IRMS) · Determination of the 13C/12C isotopic ratio in wines (by IRMS). |
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Please reply to this post or email Secretary@foodauthenticity.uk by Wednesday 25 April 2018 so that we can collate responses and submit to CEN by their deadline (27 April 2018).
Thank you
Selvarani
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