Mark Woolfe's Posts (880)

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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.

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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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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.

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Spanish police have made 11 arrests in 3 businesses for fraudulently selling powdered gardenia extract as saffron. This was regarded as a sophisticated fraud as the fraudsters managed to reduce the concentration of the authenticity marker for gardenia (geniposide) to very low levels, so that it was undetectable. The fraudster were thought have made at least Euros 3 million from the substituted saffron.

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10356801473?profile=RESIZE_400xCRC Press has published a book entitled "The Authenticity of Foods of Plant Origin". The 13 chapters cover a wide range of plant foods including tomato, rice, banana, wheat, maize, GMO's, wine and olive oil, as well as covering traceability, legislation, and  trends to improve authenticity and traceability. The book is available as both a hard back and ebook.

Link to the book here

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Dairy products (milk, butter, cheese, yoghurt etc) form an important part of the diet, and are a significant part of national and international trade of most countries. This review by Brazilian researchers outlines the frequent forms of food fraud in dairy products and the application of traditional techniques for their detection, highlighting the gaps and disadvantages of these techniques. It then describes the application of NIR (near-infrared) spectroscopy and HSI (hyperspectral imaging) for the detection of food fraud mainly in cheese, butter, and yogurt. In conclusion, NIR spectroscopy and HSI are rapid non-destructive techniques, which also require chemometric models for their interpretation, but have been successfully applied to the authentication of dairy products.

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Seafood has been identified as one of the foods vulnerable to mislabelling and fraud. In addition, Singapore has a high consumption of seafood (average 22kg/per capita/year). Researchers at the National University of Singapore conducted a survey to verify the labelling/description of seafood species. Eighty eight samples were collected from retail outlets and restaurants. Using mitochondrial DNA barcoding of the cytochrome c oxidase Subunit-I to identify seafood species, 42 different species were identified. In total, 26% (23) of the samples were mislabelled. The three most frequently mislabelled fish were Anoplopoma fimbria (Sablefish) sold as Black Cod, Dissostichus eleginoides (Patagonian toothfish) sold as Cod or Seabass, and Pangasianodon hypophthalmus (Iridescent shark) sold as Dory or Bocourti. Restaurants did not show any evidence of mislabelling, and all the mislabelled samples came from retail outlets.

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Metabolic markers are considered as a promising choice for food authentication, but few metabolic markers were available to develop robust analytical methods for food authentication in routine control. Untargeted metabolomics by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) is increasingly used to discover new metabolic markers. This review summarises the general workflow, recent applications, advantages, limitations, and future needs of untargeted metabolomics by LC-MS for identifying metabolic markers. It concludes that untargeted metabolomics by LC-MS shows great efficiency to discover the metabolic markers for the authenticity assessment of biological identity, geographical origin, agricultural production, processing technology, freshness, and cause of animals’ death.

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The olive oil and table olive industry generate large volumes of olive waste, and the adulteration of olive stone and olive pomace in ground black pepper was first identified at the end of the 19th century. Although screening methods have been developed to detect adulteration of black pepper, there is a need for a robust confirmatory test of the adulteration by olive by-products. Oleoropein, a phenolic compound responsible for the bitter taste in olives, is found in all constituent parts of the olive tree and fruit. Scientists at the McCormick & Co laboratories in France, UK and Italy have developed a method using Accelerated Solvent Extraction (ASE®) and LC-MS/MS to detect and identify oleuropein in olive by-products. The qualitative method was validated with prepared  mixtures of black pepper and different olive by-products, and the limit of detection was well below the 1.5% extraneous matter permitted in the ISO standard for black pepper.

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Virgin coconut oil (VCO) is in high demand because of its uses in cooking, frying, as well as being used as an ingredient in food, pharmacy, and cosmetic goods. Given its high consumer demand, there is a need to establish a reliable method for the identification of its geographical origin especially if producers wish to protect regional speciality production. IAEA has collaborated with Indian researchers to develop a method based on multi-elemental analysis of VCO using ICP-MS (inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry) to differentiate between VCO's from 5 major producing states of Southern India (Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Goa). Samples of coconuts were collected in each state and VCO prepared in the laboratory, and analysed by ICP-MS.  The concentration of 20 elements in a total of 21 samples were measured, and 17 of these elements (Na, Mg, Al, P, Ca, Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn, Se, Rb, Sr, Mo, Cs, Pb) were chosen for chemometric analysis. PCA (Principal Component Analysis), HCA (Hierachical Cluster Analysis), and LDA (Linear Discriminat Analysis) were able to differentiate and classify the VCO samples of different geographical origins.  Further, calibration models based on PCR (Principal Component Regression) and PLS-R (Partial Least Squares Regression) were developed on the calibration dataset of the elemental concentrations, and were able to distinguish between the different geographical origins. Therefore, ICP-MS combined with regression modelling can be used as an excellent tool for the identification of the geographical origin of the VCO samples of various Indian states.

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Seafood labelling is covered by the EU Information to Consumers Regulation (169/2011), and EU Marketing Regulation for Fishery and Aquaculture Products (1379/2013). This study analysed the labels of seafood products sold in six European countries (France, Germany, Ireland, Portugal, Spain and the UK, which was still a Member State in 2019 when the samples were collected), in order to verify the presence of mandatory information required by these EU Regulations. A total of 824 samples (449 unprocessed non-pre-packed, 213 unprocessd pre-packed, and 162 processed pre-packed) were collected from supermarkets and fishmonger stalls. The results show that there is a difference in compliance among groups of products and among countries. The UK had the lowest compliance in the unprocessed non-prepacked products - just under 64% compared to Portugal (87%). However, the main non-compliance in this category was for non-disclosure of scientific name, fishing gear and the catch production area (mainly the sub-area of FA0 37- North Atlantic, Mediterranean or Black Sea,), which is not customary information on fishmonger stalls. There was little difference between the  6 countries in labelling of pre-packed products, all of which  were over 90% compliance.

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Following a call for new Food Authenticity Centres of Expertise (CoE) last year, two new laboratories have been added the Network's list:

  • Public Analyst Scientific Services Limited (PASS), Wolverhampton  has been added as a Centre of Expertise in the ‘General’ category.
  • School of Natural Sciences, Bangor Science Campus, Bangor University, Bangor has been added as a Centre of Expertise in the ‘Specific Commodity’ category

 

For further information on these organisations, see their Full Evidence Proformas on the Centres of Expertise pages.Laboratory has been added as a Centre of Expertise in the ‘General Proficiency’ category.

Applications for new Food Authenticity Centres of Expertise can be assessed throughout the year so if you think your laboratory can fulfil the AMWG criteria for a Centre of Expertise then please complete a self-assessment evidence proformaproviding evidence of your capabilities, and send to CoE@foodauthenticity.uk. 

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Covid-19 has shown the vulnerability of the food supply chain, and fraudsters may take advantage of the pandemic whilst the population needs a continuous supply of safe, authentic and quality food. A project undertaken by the University of Central Lancashire and the University of Portsmouth aims to assess the prevalence of food fraud and identify the resilience strategies adopted by UK food supply chain during Covid-19. You can assist this project by filling out a questionnaire. Doing so will take approximately 5 minutes to complete the questions. This study is funded by the British Academy/Leverhulme Small Research Grant and is conducted by Dr. Jan Mei Soon (University of Central Lancashire) and Professor Lisa Jack (University of Portsmouth).

Dr Soon and Prof. Jack  would be grateful if you could share your thoughts and experiences using the link below.

https://uclan.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/food-fraud-and-resilience-strategies-uk

 

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Use of C14 to Authenticate Cinnamon Bark Oil

10209683452?profile=RESIZE_400xCinnamon bark oil is a spice, which has a high demand and high production cost, and hence is vulnerable to adulteration with a less expensive alternative such as synthetic petrochemical-derived cinnamaldehyde. Distinguishing biobased natural cinnamon bark oil from synthetic petrochemical cinnamaldehyde  can be achieved by measuring the C14 content. The natural product will have a C14 content, whereas a petrochemical based product will not. Standard methods for measuring C14 from ASTM (American Society for Testing and Materials) or ISO are based on mass spectrometry., and will be able to verify those samples of cinnamon bark oil, which claim to have an  "all natural ingredient".   

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The European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) has published its February 2022 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 large number of fraud incidents shown above, there are references to an article on a scientific paper analysing 274 fraud affecting the beef supply chain reported in the EU RASFF from 2000-2020, and a study highlighting the challenges and threats of re-exporting seafood products from China.

You can download the full summary here

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