Combating food fraud

Some of my colleagues here recently hosted a seminar looking at the analytical tools used to combat food fraud.  It particularly showcased emerging technologies and methods, funded and developed by the Agency’s authenticity programme, which are used to detect fraud and so protect consumers. Levels of interest in this area are indicated by the large and varied attendance – over a hundred people came, including representatives of the Agency, local authorities, public analysts, consumer organisations, industry and the media. 

Topics covered included the use of chemical, biochemical and DNA markers to detect adulteration and misdescription of foods, a German perspective on food fraud, and my colleague Mark Woolfe finished the day talking about the future direction of the Agency’s work in this area.

Some of the innovative methods discussed included using a lectin chip to detect adulteration of buffalo mozzarella with cows’ milk; using isotopes to help check the truth of a vegetable’s organic status, and using DNA to detect and quantify adulteration of Basmati rice with non-permitted varieties. Encouraging results from the European Commission TRACE project, which the Agency is co-funding, were also presented.  This Euro project aims to improve traceability and increase people’s confidence in the safety of the food chain.

Our Authenticity Programme is one of the leaders in Europe in developing state-of-the-art methods to detect food fraud and misdescription in a wide range of foods.  My colleagues in the authenticity team ensure that the methods are validated, robust and made available to enforcement laboratories.

It’s important work that shows a particularly clear connection between our research and our work to protect consumers from both the health and financial perils of food fraud.