Food Authenticity

Legal aspects and analytical solutions

Marina Carcea

National Research Institute on Food and Nutrition (INRAN)

Rome, Italy

7th Food Engineering Congress

24-26 November 2011, Ankara, Turkey

National Research Institute on Food and NutritionRome, Italy

Introduction

- Definition of “food authenticity”

- EU legal framework on traceability and food labelling

- EU legal framework on food quality (PDOs and PGIs)

- Objective assessment of food authenticity and MoniQA

- available analytical tools

- promising analytical solutions

Authenticity explained

A food is “authentic” whether:

- it complies with legislation

- it has the necessary composition for a legal name

- it matches the description in the label

- no economic adulteration by substitution of cheaper but

similar ingredients has occured

No official definition of “authentic” foods and “food authenticity”

Food authenticity, a reaction to …

- food scares/erosion of consumer trust

- increased knowledge of foods in general

- media attention to food

in the market there is an

unprecedented variety of foods

- globalisation of food markets

- rapid expansion in global agri-food trade

- social and technological developments

- wealth

1- to be empowered to choose freely

2- to have safe, trustworthy and

authentic foods

Emerging need amongst consumers:

TRACEABILITY AND LABELLING AS KEY TOOLS

EU legal framework on traceability

The identification of the origin of the foods we eat is of prime importance for our

protection.

TRACEABILITY enables us to be provided with

accurate information about

- food origin

- ingredients

- processing

- distributionSource: EC Traceability fact sheet

EU legal framework on food labelling

Labels are a pivotal tool enabling us

- to understand what we are buying, and

- to make informed choices

Food labelling (GFL) is governed by Directive 2000/13/EC (codified version of Directive

79/112/EC).

July 6, 2011: the European Parliament adopted its position at

second reading with respect to the adoption of a regulation on

food information to consumers.

EU Commissioner for Health and Consumer Policy John Dalli :

“We are not telling people what to eat but what they are eating. We

are giving them the opportunity to make better, more informed and

hopefully healthier choices”.

food labelling information is set to become simpler, clearer and more transparent.

the new rules will reduce the amount of misleading information on labels.

Major points

Provisions to support consumers in knowing whether they are eating "authentic"

and not "fake" foods:

- substitution of expected ingredients

- extension of origin labelling of fresh meat

- “formed fish” and “formed meat”

- added water in meat/fishery products

- origin of characterising ingredients, i.e. butter “produced in Belgium from Danish milk”

Food labelling and authenticity in the world

Food and Drug Administration Act (Chapter IV: Food, section 403 “Misbranded

food”)

A food shall be deemed to be misbranded: a) false or misleading label, b) offer for

sale under another name, c) imitation of another food.

Review of Food Labelling Law and Policy Labelling Logic (28 January 2011)

- origins of the food and how/ under what conditions food was produced

- in the label:

- methods of food preparation/production: “organically produced”, “free range”.

- country of origin: “made in …” , “product of …” , “grown in …”, “made in … from local and

imported ingredients”

General standard for labeling of prepackaged foods (GB 7718- 2004)

a) name under which a product is sold in clear place; b) list of ingredients; c) quantity of certain

ingredients or categories of ingredients; e) name of business name and address of the manufacturer,

packager, or seller.

“Act Governing Food Sanitation”, a new regulation about food origin in food labelling

- origins of packaged or unpackaged food products.

- product name,

- ingredients’ names according to their contents quantity,

- expiry date and food origin

Turkish Food Codex

EU legal framework on certification of food quality and authenticity

1st adoption of a scheme to identify and protect the names of quality agricultural products and

foods

PDO (Protected Designation of Origin) means the name of a region, a specific place or, in exceptional cases, a country, used to

describe an agricultural product or a foodstuff; originating in that region, specific place or country, the quality or characteristics of which are

essentially or exclusively due to a particular geographical environment with its inherent natural and human factors), and the production, processing

and preparation of which take place in the defined geographical area;

PGI (Protected Geographical Indication) means the name of a region, a specific place or, in exceptional cases, a country, used to

describe an agricultural product or a foodstuff originating in that region, specific place or country, and which possesses a specific quality,

reputation or other characteristics attributable to that geographical origin and the production and/or processing and/or preparation of which take

place in the defined geographical area.

TSG (Traditional Speciality guaranteed) means a traditional agricultural product or foodstuff recognised by the

Community for its specific character through its registration under this Regulation

1992

Adoption of new Regulations on

geographical indications & designations of origin (Council Regulation (EC) No. 509/2006)

traditional specialities (Council Regulation (EC) No. 510/2006)

2006

2011 1049 registered PDOs, PGIs, TSGs

EU legal framework on certification of food quality and authenticity

they offer guarantees for consumers about origin and methods of production;

they deliver effective marketing messages about high value-added products;

they underpin rural businesses producing quality products by protecting the label against

fraudulent imitation.

Advantages:

Side effects

PDOs, PGIs and TSGs have become a significant element of

every European Member State’s cultural and food quality

heritage.

(EC DG Research, 2007)

Link with

historical, artistic

and cultural

landmarks

Development of

tourism & hospitality

(i.e. Italy)

Influence of local

economy

Land protection

Examples of PDOs and PGIs and side effects

Tours to

production dairies

Wine and olive

roads

Many analytical and biochemical methods can be found in the scientific literature to

determine quality parameters relevant to food authenticity.

Some people even use their own in-house methods.

How can we objectively assess food authenticity?

The MoniQA Food Authenticity WG during its

five years mandate inquired about the

availability of analytical tools to assess:

- quality parameters relevant to food

authenticity, and

- issues more strictly related to food

authenticity, such as origin, species, variety,

adulteration, etc.

- their level of validation or harmonisation

Available analytical tools

A lot of validated analytical tools to determine food authenticity in terms of

“compositional analysis”:

validated analytical methods based on fatty acid profiling and triglyceride

composition.

methods to detect the adulteration of olive oil with cheaper or processed oils

Gravimetric

Enzymatic

Tritrimetric

Spectrophotometric

Chemical

Volumetric

Colorimetric

to measure

compositional, quality

attributes

alpha-amylase activity,

ash content,

protein content,

chlorides content,

crude fat, crude fibre,

flour colour,

gluten content/gluten

proteins, granularity,

hardness,

pasting properties of starch,

total dietary fibre (TDF),

starch viscosity, sterols,

sugars,

total fatty acidity, undersize

fractions, vitreousness.

Specific techniques and analytical solutions

Geographical origin,

Growing regime (organic/conventional)

Species/variety identification

Good for products with a close link

with their environment.

The measurement of the stable

isotope ratios of H and O are

applicable to the characterisation of

geographical origin (strongly

latitude dependent)

poultry, beef, wine, oils

production origin

wild/farmed fish, organic

vegetable, corn fed chicken

NMR: adulteration of olive oils,

juices, meat; discrimination of

cultivars and species;

determination of geographical

origin of PDOs and PGIs;

determination of illegal processing

practices

IR: determination of cultivars of

plant origin foodstuffs/meat

species/geographical origin of

PDOs; detection of extension of

milk/fruit juices with water

DNA techniques are useful for

species or variety identification

microsatellites or simple-

sequence length polymorphism

rice varieties, potato varieties, olive

varieties

real time PCR durum wheat

pasta, meat species

Stable isotopes analysisProfiling techniques

(IR, NIR, NMR)DNA-based methods

Implementation of stable isotopes into PDO descriptions

Conclusions

EU consumers are increasingly asking to be reassured about the

authenticity of the foods they eat

in Europe there is a comprehensive legal framework to protect consumers’ health

and economic interests

existence of a wide range of analytical tools to objectively assess food authenticity,

but further methods of analysis are needed to support legislation and to fight fraud

gaps and needs that require attention:

international validation of existing promising analytical methods

development of new methods

data treatment

existence of reference material

data collection and sharing amongst control bodies, but also with industry

and producers

consumers information