Food News

Adulteration of spices was detected by the French authorities in half of the samples taken from the market which shows a high fraud potential in this product group.

The “top” position of all reported fraud cases with spices is kept by saffron (82%). This is not very surprising, as saffron is most expensive and a rare spice and rather simple to counterfeit.
But also peppers, chili, curry mixtures, paprika, coriander, cumin and curcuma were found to be manipulated in fraudulent manner, as well as cinnamon and ginger - this means manipulation occurs across the well –assorted spice shelf.
Mixing with non-declared ingredients (salt, starch, lactose) and substitution is common. A “fleur de saffron” consists to100% of safflower. Cinnamon from Sri Lanka turned out to be originated from China instead. Oregano leaves are diluted with milled olive tree leaves. 7% of the samples did not show an allergen warning although allergens were present in high concentration. And finally the cheaters just sell less than promised on the label. A lack of 10% in weight per package means 10% more profit without a big risk.

AGROLAB^GROUP in co-operation with its partners AlNuMed and IMPRINT Analytics offers chemical fingerprinting for spices (and other valuable food ingredients), that can detect and prevent manipulation with high probability. Our AGROLAB^GROUP laboratory Dr. A. Verwey is specialised on quality control for spices. As can be seen from the examples you have to think like the criminal to see through this game. AGROLABGROUP is leading in proposing intelligent combination of classical analysis with affordable new identification techniques like NMR and IRMS.

When you ask your supplier for a product sample, you should take the opportunity to ask for a chemical fingerprint produced and individually saved in a customised database by us.
After you received the bulk you can easily and at any tie detect whether the product complies with the sample or has been “exchanged” by a lower grade. We call it the “batch-check”. Consider putting this unique chemical fingerprint as an obligatory part of your future purchase specification and get rid of any quarrel with your supplier about fulfilment of the requirements.

AGROLAB FITS- Food Integrity Testing Services - initiative provides a bunch of sophisticated methods and exploits exciting ideas that will help to stop food fraud.

Author: Dr. Frank Mörsberger

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