The European Food Fraud Network has just published its 2019 annual report.
Fraudulent
activities impacting the food chain can pose a risk to the consumer.
The number
of requests for administrative assistance on suspicion of food fraud increased
from 234 in 2018 to 292 in 2019.
Below is
the number of suspected fraud by type of product:
- Oils
and fats: 44, with olive oil being the most notified.
- Fish
and fish products: 42
- Meat
and meat products (excluding poultry): 38
- Fruits
and Vegetables: 28
- Poultry
and poultry products: 16
- Herbs and Spices : 12
- Cereals
and derivatives: 11
- Alcoholic
beverages: 10
- Nuts,
seeds and derived products: 10
- Other products : 12
Five types
of non-conformities were listed:
- 47%
concerning erroneous labelling with, in particular, the mention BIO on products
with pesticide residues.
- 20%
concerning replacement / dilution / addition / withdrawal in the product: meat
products in which beef has been replaced by pork or horse, but also olive
leaves in oregano, saffron cut with stamen fibres of another species and the
presence of cheap rice in basmati rice.
- 16%
on the treatment and/or process not approved: Unauthorised pesticides, tuna
treated with nitrite or carbon monoxide used to improve the colour of the
product.
- 15% on non-conformities on documents: absence or
falsification of documents
- 2%
on the violation of intellectual property rights: frauds on Geographical
Indications, PDO, PGI often on wines or olive oil.
Adulteration
is therefore the second most common cause of fraud with 20% of cases.
Phytocontrol
can bring you solutions to authenticate your products.
The
laboratory is able to offer 3 types of analyses performed using NGS technology:
- Meat
Packs (more than 6000 species)
- Fish
Packs (more than 6000 species)
- Plant
Packs (more than 5000 species)
These packs
are available individually or combined according to your needs.
This
innovative technology allows you to prove the authenticity of the species
present in your products with a much more exhaustive coverage than traditional
methods.
