Food authenticity


The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) has published the findings of a targeted study on meat authenticity. It is important to stress that authenticity is not a primarily a food safety, but a food standards issue. However some contaminants used can have either acute or chronic food safety implications. Tests are undertaken by governments and food authorities around the world to determine whether food is authentic i.e. it is what is stated on the label. 

Recent investigations in the UK have included the recall of counterfeit vodka in April 2012. The Food Standards Agency (FSA) estimates that alcohol fraud costs the UK economy more £1bn lost in revenue each year with spirits alone accounting for £130 million[1]. To adulterate means to add impure, improper, or inferior ingredients. In the 1800s adulteration was commonplace in the UK. Bakers would whiten their bread with chalk and sawdust and brewers would add bitter substances to save on the cost of hops. The first Food Adulteration Act was passed in the UK in 1860.  More recently there was the "antifreeze scandal" of 1985, when European wine was found to be adulterated with diethylene glycol and the melamine incident with adulteration of wheat gluten and milk powder in China starting in 2007 but adulteration continues to be a problem in China. At least six babies died and 294,000 more were made sick in the melamine incident and thousands of products were recalled on a global scale as a result of Chinese milk powder being used as an ingredient.

A national survey in India of adulteration in liquid milk in 2011 by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) found that 68.4% of samples tested were non-conforming. In some states the level of non-compliance was 100%.

Operation Fox' was an investigation undertaken by UK authorities into a large-scale fraud involving the recycling of condemned poultry meat back into the human food chain. This investigation and resultant court proceedings led to the conviction at Hull Crown Court of the meat-fraud gang, receiving combined sentences of 18 years[2]. The report released in by the FSAI yesterday[3] gave the results for a study that tested for the presence of horse and pig DNA, in beef burger products.   The press release highlights that:

A total of 27 beef burger products were analysed with 10 of the 27 products (37%) testing positive for horse DNA and 23 (85%) testing positive for pig DNA.  In addition, 31 beef meal products (cottage pie, beef curry pie, lasagne, etc) were analysed of which 21 were positive for pig DNA and all were negative for horse DNA.  All 19 salami products analysed tested negative for horse DNA.  Traces of horse DNA were also detected in batches of raw ingredients, including some imported from The Netherlands and Spain.

The beef burger products which tested positive for horse DNA were produced by two processing plants (Liffey Meats and Silvercrest Foods) in Ireland and one plant (Dalepak Hambleton) in the UK.  They were on sale in Tesco, Dunnes Stores, Lidl, Aldi and Iceland.  In nine of the ten beef burger samples from these retailers, horse DNA was found at very low levels.  However, in one sample from

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