In a report to the Food Standards Agency's (FSA) Board in December, Emily Miles, FSA's Chief Executive reported on the active investigations being carried out by the NFCU. These include: 

Operation Atlas - concerning the sale of 2,4 dinitrophenol in controlled drugs and presciption only medicines. A successful prosecution has taken place in this operation.

Operation Aspen - where fraudsters posing as UK catering franchises online had obtained obtained hundreds of thousands pounds worth of food products from European businesses.

Operation Bantam - where fraudsters have obtained illicit poultry animal by-products (ABP) not fit for human consumption, processed them and diverted them into the human food chain. The NFCU is working with several local authorities investigating businesses involved with this trade, and two are taking prosecutions.

Operation Hawk -  is exploring large scale misrepresentation of country of origin on packed meat products.

Operation Boston - concerns the diversion of Category 3 animal by-products into the human food chain, as well as the supply of substandard and misdescribed red meat to Ghana.

Read the full article here

As a quality oil, olive oil is susceptible to adulteration and fraud. This paper reviews the most common types of fraud in the olive oil sector. The two most common types of fraud recorded are the marketing of virgin olive oil as extra virgin, and marketing olive oil which is a blend of olive oil and  other vegetable oils. Two on-line surveys focused on current and future issues facing  the industry and control laboratories. These revealed the emerging issues of concern with regards to fraud were from the addition of deodorized oil, and from mixing with oil obtained by a second centrifugation of the olive paste (remolido). In addition, the most frequent fraudulent practices are mixing with lower quality olive oils, and giving a false delaration of origin (EU and non-EU). 

Read the full open access paper

Faegre Drinker’s 2021 Food & Agribusiness National Conference discussed the major issues and trends from across market segments and product categories as a results of changes or developments in US food legislation. This included the increasing number of lawsuites dealing with food labelling and market practices about ingredients, health claims, "clean" claims, and serving size/portion claims. It also covered the new developments in FDA's Food Defense Rule, the new climate ESG (Economic Social and Governance ) task force looking at carbon footprint claims, the Food Labeling Modernization Act (FLMA), and remote inspections.

Read the article here

An operation led by the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil has led to the arrest of six people charged with the unlicensed slaughter of horses and sale of horsemeat, which ended up as steaks and burgers. The scale of the fraud involved about 800 kilograms of meat being distributed per week, and this could have been taken place for 7 months.

Read the article here

Because of a poor harvest of Brazilian Arabica coffee, the price of coffee beans has increased 80% this year. Also part of this increase is because of poor supply chain issues. The poor harvest in Brazil was caused by a drought, but Colombia has also suffered a poor coffee harvest because of heavy rainfall damaging coffee plants. 

Read the article here

Although there are thirteen varieties of ginseng, only two are commercialised in herbal products - Asian ginseng (Panax ginseng) and American ginseng (Panax quinquefolius). Ginseng root is a popular medicinal plant with a global estimated value of USD 2.1 billion. The two varieties are highly valued in their respective markets, and intentional mixing often takes place for economic reasons as does potential adulteration with other plants. Therefore, this study developed a DNA assay to identify the two species and distinguish them from potential adulterants. Preparation of the milled ginseng root degrades the DNA, which makes barcoding or sequencing not practical assays to identify the two types of ginseng. Therefore, specific hydrolysis probe-qPCR for the two varieties of ginseng was developed, and validated on a portable qPCR instrument using 9 authentic samples of P. ginseng and 10 authentic samples of P. quinquefolius, with 19 authentic samples of other potential adulterating plants. The assay was found to be 100% specific for each variety of ginseng with no cross reaction with the 19 other plants. The assay was then tested with 42 commercial herbal products of P. ginseng and 40 commercial products of P. quinquefolius purchased in China, Canada and the USA, which found that 2 of the P. ginseng products were incorrectly labelled and were P. quinquefolius. 

Read the full paper here

Ancient wheat varieties - einkorn, emmer and spelt are called "hulled wheat" because the hulls are quite tough and not removed during threshing, unlike common and durum wheat, where the hulls are more brittle, and are termed "hulless wheat". Ancient wheat varieties are increasing in popularity, especially with organic farmers, because of their organoleptic qualities. They are collectively called the Italian term "farro". There is a siginificant price differential between hulled and hulless wheat, and hence a requirement to verify labelling of products containing einkorn, emmer and spelt. In this study, researchers have developed a digital PCR method that will quantify the amount of "farro" and hulless wheat (common or durum wheat) in flours and wheat based products. It was tested between two laboratories with a range of products, and apart from two products (which may have been labelling incorrectly), the two laboratories determination matched each other and the labelling very closely. There was no or very little cross reactivity with barley, oat and rice.

Read the full paper here

The name Lambrusco is based on grape variety, and Lambrusco wines have been given PDO (Protected Denomination of Origin) status based on variety and method of production. They are produced in several regions in Italy, but mainly in the north including Modena, Reggio Emilia, and Mantua. In this study, 40 PDO Lambrusco wines were collected, 24 from Modena, 10 from Mantua, and 6 from Reggio Emilia. The feasibility of using isotopic ratios of  ¹¹B/¹⁰B,  ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr, ^20yPb/^20xPb, ¹⁸O/¹⁶O,  and the elemental concentrations of boron, lead and strontium were determined. After different chemometric analyses, the best differentiation of the PDOs was based mainly on boron and strontium, in terms of concentration and isotopic ratios, and on lead isotopic ratios.

Read the full paper here

Dry-cured Iberian ham owes its special flavour because it is produced from pigs which feed on acorns. Spanish researchers have investigated the non-destructive authentication of Iberian ham by analysing the headspace from hams produced from different feeding regimes, and analysing the volatiles using gas chromatography coupled to either a mass spectrometer (GC-MS) or an ion mobility spectrometer (GC-IMS, which separates molecules based on their mass, shape and charge). Both instruments were able to differentiate different pig feeding regimes in hams. GC-IMS was more sensitive detecting more volatiles, but GC-MS gave better in providing quantitative results for the amount of volatiles. Using principal component analyis (PCA), the best authenticity markers for hams produced from different feeding regimes were ethanol, 2-propanol and 3-methylbutanol, 3-methylbutanal and heptane.

Read the abstract here

Not from concentrate (NFC) juice has better flavour and demands a higher price than reconstituted juice, and hence is more vulnerable to adulteration with sugar and water. This study investigates the use carbon and oxygen stable isotope ratios (δ¹³C and δ¹⁸O values) of the bulk juice and different juice components from 21 fruit and vegetable juicesto determine whether water and/or sugar has been added. Using juice pulp as an internal standard, δ¹³C values can qualitatively and quantitatively indicate the presence of C4 plant sugars in NFC juice, and can reliably detect added C4 plant sugars above 7 %. Determination of δ¹³C values of different juice sugars (sucrose, glucose and fructose) and carbon content can qualitatively infer C3 plant sugar addition to NFC juices. δ¹⁸O values of the pulp extracted from juice had a good linear relationship with the juice water δ¹⁸O values (R² > 0.90). Also, comparison of δ¹⁸O values of extraneous water, pulp and filtered juice can also determine water addition to NFC juices. 

Read the abstract here

In the spring of 2021, poor weather conditions led to a significant decrease in the champagne grape harvest. Because most champagne is aged in the bottle for  two to four years, the reduced production in 2020 and 2021 will be felt most acutely in the market in 2023 or 2024. However, prices are already beginning to increase in traditional sales markets of the UK and USA in the light of rising demand, and now future supplies are also looking critical.

Read the article here

The use of water stable isotope ratios (hydrogen/deuterium and oxygen 16/18) as authenticity markers to verify geographical origin is very well established.  It requires producing a database of delta (δ)  values by collecting reference data from the claimed country or region of origin, but also collecting comparative data from other regions to validate or disprove the food’s origin. Swiss researchers in collaboration with Agroisolab GmbH, have developed a model, which allows the oxygen isotope ratio in plants to be calculated from individual regions, thereby eliminating the need for the time-consuming collection of reference data. The model utilises the temperature, precipitation and humidity data of the country/region, and information about the growing season of a plant, all of which are available from publicly accessible databases. The model was tested and validated on a unique δ¹⁸O reference dataset for strawberries collected across Europe over a period of 11 years. The case study has shown that the model can simulate the origin of the strawberries with a high degree of accuracy.    

You can read the article or the full open access paper.          

Herbs are high value ingredients, which are vulnerable to adulteration and fraud. Confirmatory methods based on DNA analysis have shown to be the most useful in investigating herb adulteration. In this study, a customised database and bioinformatics pipeline was developed based on a DNA barcoding metagenomics approach to herbal species identification. The pipeline performance was tested with publicly available datasets, as well as, newly sequenced herbal plants and products. The usefulness of metagenomics is limited by the availability of reference sequences and the need for sequencing depth.  However, this method shows promise for evaluating the authenticity of different herbal products provided that it is further refined to increase the qualitative and quantitative accuracy.

You can read tihe full open access paper. 

This project (FA0160)  builds on two previous feasibility studies, and develops the principle of using a food microbiome as an authenticity marker for the development of methodology that discriminates provenance on the basis of its microbial fingerprint. It also exploits the latest NGS (Next Generation Sequencing) technology, which permits a large number of microbiological groups to be identified to create the microbial profile. Further details of the project and its results were published in our October 2021 Newsletter. The final report is available on the Defra (Departmnt of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) website, and the link has also been added to the website's list of research reports.

One of the roles of the Food Authenticity Network is to help bring those involved in food authenticity testing together in a more coordinated way. Centres of Expertise laboratories were created recognising their different disciplines and techniques involved in food authenticity testing, and trying to cover all  of the food commodities. The UK Government’s Authenticity Methods Working Group produced a number of criteria, which outlined the type of qualities an organisation offering a particular expertise might be expected to demonstrate to become a ‘Centre of Expertise’ (CoE). There is an expectation that such organisations should be prepared to engage with and offer support to others in their areas of expertise both within the Network and more widely if required.

Currently, 14 organisations have been acknowledged as Food Authenticity Centres of Expertise.

We would like to invite applications from suitably qualified laboratories to become a Food Authenticity Centres of Expertise. In recognition of the fact that food authenticity testing is conducted globally, we welcome applications from laboratories both in the UK and outside the UK. The acknowledgement of Centre of Expertise status is performed jointly by the UK Government and the Food Authenticity Network Executive Management Team.

If you think your laboratory can fulfil the AMWG criteria for CoEs then please complete a self-assessment evidence proforma, providing evidence of your capabilities, and return to CoE@foodauthenticity.uk by 30 November 2021. You will be notified of the outcome by the end of January 2022.

Chilean researchers have carried out a survey of misdescription and fraud in the sale of swordfish (Xiphias gladius) in Santiago's fish and open-air markets.  DNA barcoding was used for taxonomic identification of swordfish and shark species. Forty seven headless, gutted and fin-removed samples sold as swordfish were collected from the fish and open-air markets. Most of the samples (91.5%) were correctly described as swordfish, but 6.4% were identified as porbeagle shark (Lamna nasus) and 2.1% as shortfin mako (Isurus oxyrinchus). No substitution was found in supermarket samples. These shark species are classified as vulnerable and endangered (IUCN), respectively, and listed in Appendix II (CITES). The authors have recommended stronger fish labelling rules and enforcement in Chile to improve shark conservation.

Read the abstract here

This is our 13th Network Newsletter, and in this October issue we have the following interesting articles:

• The latest Research Report - Development of Metagenomic Methods for Determination of Origin
• Review of Global Food Fraud Definitions
• Authenticity Methodology Working Group (AMWG) view on Use of Next Generation Sequencing for Food Authenticity Testing
• IRMS vs NMR: Which method is best for detecting exogenous sugars in honey?
• The Scottish Food Crime and Incidents Unit (SFCIU)
• African Centre of Excellence for Food Fraud and Food Safety
• Centre of Expertise (CoE) profile: GfL Gesellschaft für Lebensmittel-Forschung mbH, Berlin.

You can download the Newsletter from our Documents Section here

The European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) has published its September 2021 Food Fraud 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 some interesting articles including an article on fraud in the honey sector, mislabelled fresh fruit and vegetables in Italy, and fraud in the global wine sector.

You can read JRC's Summary here

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.