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News

Food fraud: Scientists develop 'low-cost' country of origin detection method

14/12/2021 - François-Xavier Branthôme

Scientists develop a cheaper, quicker way to determine produce country of origin

A model that can be used to determine the origin of food in 'an efficient and low-cost manner' has been developed by botanists at the University of Basel.

Fraud drains costs the global food industry an estimated USD30 to USD40 billion every year, PricewaterhouseCoopers estimates. According to the Consumer Brands Association, although most cases are not identified, it is estimated that 10% to 30% of all commercially sold food is fraudulent. Improper labeling concerning the country of origin is the most common form of food fraud, which is motivated by cost reduction and maximization of profits. This erodes consumer trust, and increases the potential for reduced quality and health risk. Analytical tools for the independent verification of the geographical origin of food are therefore in high demand

False claims can take many forms, from tampering and adulteration to misrepresentation and substitution. Scientists at the University of Basel in Switzerland set out to address a common problem of food fraudulently placed on the market: false country of origin claims.
Strawberries from Switzerland or olive oil from Italy can be sold at much higher prices than the same products grown or manufactured in a different country. The economic motivation for fraudsters means the authorities and food industry invest a significant amount of time and money trying to fight false declarations of origin, the researchers noted.

The leading methods used for the forensic assessment of geographic food origin use stable isotope analyses. Stable isotopes are especially ideal for verifying the origin of agricultural products, since climate and topography, the underlying geology, and agricultural practices lead to location specific isotopic fingerprints in a product. Most methods using stable isotopes for the verification of geographical origins are based on the direct comparison of the isotopic fingerprint of a suspected sample to authentic reference material with known geographic origin. For such comparisons, statistical analyses are straightforward and data interpretation is easily understood by customers and law enforcement agencies. Collecting authentic reference samples is, however, time consuming and expensive, especially on a global scale. Large reference datasets are therefore often geographically scattered and temporally not sufficiently resolved to account for the inter- and intra-annual variability observed in the oxygen and hydrogen isotope composition of plants, the two stable isotope ratios primarily used for origin analysis. This limitation can add substantial uncertainty in the provenance prediction of agricultural products.

One method for detecting food fraud is to determine the δ18O (delta-O-18] value of a product sample, which characterizes the oxygen isotope ratio. Until now, this procedure has been highly time consuming and costly. A case of suspected fraud involved not only collecting reference data from the claimed country of origin, but also comparative data from other regions to validate or disprove the product's origin.

Cutting costs through model calculation
Basel botanist Dr. Florian Cueni has now developed a new model in collaboration with Agroisolab GmbH, a company specializing in isotope analysis. The research has been published in journal Scientific Reports.
In their study, researchers demonstrate how mechanistic plant physiological stable oxygen isotope models can be parametrized to serve as a fast, logistically simple, and low-cost alternative for predicting the geographic origin of agricultural plant products. The oxygen isotope composition (δ18O) of plant organic compounds is driven by the δ18O values of local precipitation and the evaporative environment of a plant, both of which show distinct geographic patterns. If correctly parameterized, plant physiological stable isotope models can simulate how precipitation water δ18O values and climatic variables jointly shape the δ18O values of water inside the plant, and how these plant water δ18O values are imprinted into the plant’s organic materials. Mechanistic plant physiological stable oxygen isotope models therefore have the potential to simulate the geographic variation of plant δ18O values (e.g. agricultural products), to which δ18O values of suspected food samples can be referenced and their purported geographic origin verified.

This model is intended for use in simulating the oxygen isotope ratio in plants from individual regions, eliminating the need for the time-consuming collection of reference data. It is based on temperature, precipitation and humidity data and information about the growing season of a plant, all of which are available from publicly accessible databases, the recently published study revealed.
Dr. Cueni tested and validated the model on a unique δ18O reference dataset for strawberries collected across Europe over 11 years. 'The case study has shown that the model can simulate the origin of the strawberries with a high degree of accuracy/'the researchers concluded.

A 'wide range' of uses
This model can be applied to much more than strawberries to determine country of origin.
"With minor adjustments to the parameters, our model can be used to determine all plant products," explained Professor Ansgar Kahmen, who led the research project.
This means it is possible to simplify and speed up conventional isotope analysis by accurately simulating the regions of origin of agricultural foodstuffs, driving down cost in the process.
The model is of interest to food forensics officials or the investigating authorities and can actually be applied to applications outside the food industry, the Basel scientists noted. This could include determining the origin of confiscated drugs, for example. They also pointed to its use by private forensic institutes that inspect food or serve as expert witnesses in court. Meanwhile, NGOs such as WWF or Greenpeace are also interested - especially with regard to determining the origin of illegally logged timber. As is the food Industry, which suffers reputational damage due to the sale of products that may have been falsely declared.

Global trade: the question of origin

The Experimental Station of the Canning Industry (SSICA) based in Parma has developed a test that can trace the origin of raw materials.

The SSICA (Experimental Station of the food canning industry) based in Parma, is currently fine-tuning a test that can trace the origin of raw materials with a good level of certainty.
The method has been described in scientific journals and has benefited from improvements and developments, most recently in September 2021. The test is based on the mapping of mineral elements present in tomato pastes or purees. According to scientists, the presence of given relative quantities of minerals such as copper, lithium, cobalt, rubidium and strontium should make it possible to differentiate products that are industrially processed from Italian tomatoes from those manufactured from tomatoes grown in other parts of the world. However, the implementation of such methods remains delicate, on the one hand because it is necessary to identify infinitesimal quantities (parts per million or per billion) of minerals and on the other hand because it is necessary to have a reference database made up of a large number of samples collected at different times in different parts of the world. The identification of an origin by this method thus raises the question of the reliability of the test and the reproducibility of the results, reasons which explain the caution of the SSICA in the formulation of its opinions.

According to the IrpiMedia “Investigative Reporting Project” in Italy, the first applications of these tests only date back to May 2021. About 40 samples were taken at the request of the Central Fraud Control Inspectorate of the Mipaaf (Italian Ministry of Agriculture), but requests are also coming in from supermarket operators who want to see the origin of the tomato products marketed under their brands certified by a recognized method and organization.

An article was published in the scientific journal Food Control reporting the results of the SSICA study on multi-element analysis of tomato products.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0956713518302858

At this stage, it can only be hoped that these laboratory tests will be recognized as official in order to finally have a reliable and relevant method, capable of establishing with certainty the origin of the tomato, without leaving space for suppositions and interpretations like those to which the industry has been subjected in recent years.

Sources: “Using plant physiological stable oxygen isotope models to counter food fraud”, Scientific Reports, DOI: 10.1038/s41593-021-96722-9 (Authors: Florian Cueni, Daniel B. Nelson, Markus Boner & Ansgar Kahmen); irpimedia.irpi.eu, sciencedirect.com

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