Use of energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence to authenticate European wines with protected designation of origin. Challenges of a successful control system based on modelling.

Consumers are willing to pay a higher price for food with geographical origin labels such as Protected Designation of Origin and Protected Geographical Indication. In this work, the elemental profile of wine obtained by XRF, combined with multivariate analyses, is used to authenticate 111 Croatian, Italian and Spanish red and white wines, 102 of them from 20 Protected Designations of Origin, reproducing the circumstances faced by control laboratories, using commercially available wines without traceability records. Wines that shared origin clustered together and separated from those of other regions following multivariate statistical tests.

Purity Assessment of Honey Based on Compound Specific Stable Carbon Isotope Ratios Obtained by LC-IRMS.

Background: The use of stable carbon isotope ratios (δ13C) of sugar fractions of honey is a powerful tool to detect adulteration with sugar syrups. This is accomplished by calculating differences of the δ13C values between individual honey saccharides and comparing them to published purity criteria. A liquid chromatography-isotope ratio mass spectrometry (LC-IRMS) method for the determination of δ13C values of sugars in honey was previously validated by an interlaboratory comparison, but no further guidance was given how to include the obtained precision figures of the compound-specific δ13C values in the purity assessment of honey.

Detection and Quantification of Botanical Impurities in Commercial Oregano () Using Metabarcoding and Digital PCR.

DNA technology for food authentication is already well established, and with the advent of Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) and, more specifically, metabarcoding, compositional analysis of food at the molecular level has rapidly gained popularity. This has led to several reports in the media about the presence of foreign, non-declared species in several food commodities. As herbs and spices are attractive targets for fraudulent manipulation, a combination of digital PCR and metabarcoding by NGS was employed to check the purity of 285 oregano samples taken from the European market.

Essential terminology and considerations for validation of non-targeted methods.

Through their suggestive name, non-targeted methods (NTMs) do not aim at a predefined "needle in the haystack." Instead, they exploit all the constituents of the haystack. This new type of analytical method is increasingly finding applications in food and feed testing.

DNA Accounting: Tallying Genomes to Detect Adulterated Saffron.

The EU General Food Law not only aims at ensuring food safety but also to 'prevent fraudulent or deceptive practices; the adulteration of food; and any other practices which may mislead the consumer'. Especially the partial or complete, deliberate, and intentional substitution of valuable ingredients (e.g.

Results of an Interlaboratory Comparison of a Liquid Chromatography-Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry Method for the Determination of 13C/12C Ratios of Saccharides in Honey.

Background: Stable carbon isotope analysis of sugars in honey by LC-isotope ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS) is a useful tool for detecting adulteration of honey with extraneous sugar. Purity criteria based on 13C/12C ratios of saccharides in honey, determined by LC-IRMS of a large number of authentic honey samples, have been elaborated. However, no interlaboratory comparison (ILC) has yet been performed to estimate the precision of the method under reproducibility conditions.

Are the elemental fingerprints of organic and conventional food different? ED-XRF as screening technique.

Research has been conducted the last years to assess whether organically grown food is chemically different from produce of conventional agriculture and which markers are appropriate to discriminate between them. Most articles focus on one single food commodity, produced under strict controlled organic farming conditions, leaving open the question whether the difference would be seen when applied to the same commodity under different growing conditions. In this work 118 organic and 151 conventional samples of commercially available paprika powder, cinnamon, coffee, tea, chocolate, rice, wheat flour, cane sugar, coconut water, honey and bovine milk were characterised for their elemental composition using energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence.

Tools to combat food fraud - A gap analysis.

A complex legal and institutional framework exists in the EU to ensure the safety of the feed-food chain, while such an integrated system for combating food fraud is under development. The European Commission (EC) Knowledge Centre for Food Fraud and Quality is charged with the provision of scientific insight for the policy making of EC services dealing with food fraud, and the creation of expert networks with the competent authorities of the EU Member States. To flag gaps in the existing infrastructure needed for effectively and efficiently fighting food fraud, the Centre together with the competent authorities and several EC services undertook a stocktaking exercise of what works well and which areas will need improvement.

Regulatory landscape of dietary supplements and herbal medicines from a global perspective.

The number of Individuals that use dietary supplements and herbal medicine products are continuous to increase in many countries. The context of usage of a dietary supplement varies widely from country-to-country; in some countries supplement use is just limited to general health and well-being while others permit use for medicinal purposes. To date, there is little consensus from country to country on the scope, requirements, definition, or even the terminology in which dietary supplement and herbal medicines categories could be classified.

The feasibility of harmonizing gluten ELISA measurements.

Many publications have highlighted that routine ELISA methods do not give rise to equivalent gluten content measurement results. In this study, we assess this variation between results and its likely impact on the enforcement of the EU gluten-free legislation. This study systematically examines the feasibility of harmonizing gluten ELISA assays by the introduction of: a common extraction procedure; a common calibrator, such as a pure gluten extract and an incurred matrix material.

Comparison of food colour regulations in the EU and the US: a review of current provisions.

This review describes the European Union and the US regulations applicable to food colours. Despite the different regulatory frameworks, the overall approach is similar, based on well-established risk-assessment procedures and risk-management measures. However, differences impacting free movement of goods can be found in the details and implementation of regulations.

Comparative evaluation of methods for the detection of 2-alkylcyclobutanones as indicators for irradiation treatment of cashew nuts and nutmeg.

Irradiation of food products and ingredients must be indicated by proper labeling. This study evaluated the appropriateness of the European Standard EN 1785:2003 for the detection of 2-alkylcyclobutanones, which are radiolysis products of fatty acids, in cashew nuts and nutmeg and confirmed its suitability to detect irradiation of cashew nut samples at average absorbed doses of 1 kGy and above. An alternative method was developed, which is based on matrix solid phase dispersion and subsequent separation and detection of oxime derivatives of 2-alkylcyclobutanones by high performance-high resolution mass spectrometry.

Two-dimensional heart-cut LC-LC improves accuracy of exact-matching double isotope dilution mass spectrometry measurements of aflatoxin B1 in cereal-based baby food, maize, and maize-based feed.

Aflatoxins, mycotoxins of fungi of the Aspergillus sp., pose a risk to consumer health and are, therefore, regulated by more than 100 countries. To facilitate method development and validation as well as assessment of measurement capabilities, availability of certified reference materials and proficiency testing schemes is important.

Validation procedures for quantitative gluten ELISA methods: AOAC allergen community guidance and best practices.

The food allergen analytical community is endeavoring to create harmonized guidelines for the validation of food allergen ELISA methodologies to help protect food-sensitive individuals and promote consumer confidence. This document provides additional guidance to existing method validation publications for quantitative food allergen ELISA methods. The gluten-specific criterion provided in this document is divided into sections for information required by the method developer about the assay and information for the implementation of the multilaboratory validation study.

Feasibility study for producing a carrot/potato matrix reference material for 11 selected pesticides at EU MRL level: material processing, homogeneity and stability assessment.

The feasibility for producing a matrix reference material for selected pesticides in a carrot/potato matrix was investigated. A commercially available baby food (carrot/potato-based mash) was spiked with 11 pesticides at the respective EU maximum residue limits (MRLs), and further processed by either freezing or freeze-drying. Batches of some 150 units were produced per material type.

Evaluation of the quality of postharvest rapeseed by means of an electronic nose.

Background: Rapeseed is a valuable source of edible oil. The presence of even a small amount of mouldy or burnt rapeseed in a particular production batch deteriorates the quality of the edible oil obtained from it. Since the traditional method of using a panel of experts is time-consuming, there is a need for fast and easy methods for rapeseed quality evaluation by intelligent devices to replace human labour.

Current perspectives and recommendations for the development of mass spectrometry methods for the determination of allergens in foods.

Allergen detection and quantification is an essential part of allergen management as practiced by food manufacturers. Recently, protein MS methods (in particular, multiple reaction monitoring experiments) have begun to be adopted by the allergen detection community to provide an alternative technique to ELISA and PCR methods. MS analysis of proteins in foods provides additional challenges to the analyst, both in terms of experimental design and methodology: (1) choice of analyte, including multiplexing to simultaneously detect several biologically relevant molecules able to trigger allergic reactions; (2) choice of processing stable peptide markers for different target analytes that should be placed in publicly available databases; (3) markers allowing quantification (e.

Analytical methods for detection of gluten in food--method developments in support of food labeling legislation.

The current essential therapy of celiac disease is a strict adherence to a gluten-free diet. Besides food products that are naturally gluten-free, "very low gluten" and "gluten-free" bakery products have become available. The availability of immunochemical and other analytical methods to determine gluten markers in foods is of utmost importance to ensure the well being of gluten-sensitive individuals.

Validation procedures for quantitative food allergen ELISA methods: community guidance and best practices.

This document provides supplemental guidance on specifications for the development and implementation of studies to validate the performance characteristics of quantitative ELISA methods for the determination of food allergens. It is intended as a companion document to other existing publications on method validation. The guidance is divided into two sections: information to be provided by the method developer on various characteristics of the method, and implementation of a multilaboratory validation study.

Capabilities of laboratories to determine melamine in food-results of an international proficiency test.

A proficiency test to assess the capabilities of laboratories to determine melamine in a milk powder and a baking mix, representing starch-containing foods like bread and biscuits, was carried out in January 2009. The need for such an interlaboratory comparison arose from a health scare in China about melamine-tainted powdered milk in the second half of 2008. Laboratories in 31 countries, including Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand and the USA, and 21 of the 27 Member States of the European Union participated and reported back 114 results for the milk powder and 112 for the baking mix test materials.

Development of a certified reference material for the content of nitroimidazole parent drugs and hydroxy metabolites in pork meat.

Nitroimidazoles have been applied in the past to poultry and pigs to treat protozoan diseases and to combat bacterial infections, but due to adverse health effects their use in food-producing animals has meanwhile been banned in the EU. The request for a certified reference material in a representative matrix was stipulated by the responsible Community Reference Laboratory and is underpinned by the need to improve the accuracy and comparability of measurement data and to establish metrological traceability of analytical results. The Institute for Reference Materials and Measurements (IRMM) has responded to this demand by developing and producing a new certified matrix reference material, ERM-BB124.

Production of a certified reference material for the acrylamidecontent in toasted bread.

The need for a certified matrix reference material (CRM) of acrylamide in a food type matrix was emphasized by the competent authorities as a tool to improve comparability, ensuring accuracy and traceability of analytical results. The institute for reference materials and measurements (IRMM) responded to the international request by producing a certified reference material, ERM-BD273, containing endogenous acrylamide in a toasted bread matrix. This work describes the production of the CRM, according to ISO Guides 34 and 35 [ISO Guide 34 (2000).

Evaluation of performance characteristics of multistep analytical methods from collaborative study of linked samples.

Following unexpectedly variable results from an international comparison study of the determination of selected polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) congeners in shellfish tissue, a group of national metrology institutes collaboratively explored the analytical characteristics of their measurement systems using a designed study with four sample materials. This "Uncertainty Suite" consisted of a 10-congener mixture of PCBs in relatively nonvolatile isooctane, a 5-congener mixture in relatively volatile methylene chloride, a methylene chloride extract of freeze-dried mussel (Mytilus edulis) tissue, and the (homogenized) mussel tissue itself. These related-but-different samples presented the participants' measurement processes with a linked series of analytical challenges.

Optimisation of the GC-MS conditions for the determination of the 15 EU foodstuff priority polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.

European legislation has recently established a list of 15 priority polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) to be monitored in foodstuff. Thus, the accurate determination of these compounds has become a highly relevant issue. The fact that some of these European Union (EU) PAHs differ from those typically analysed, requires the re-evaluation of the instrumental conditions for the proper determination of the new target compounds.