Protecting Italian honey authenticity and combatting food fraud, the Italian Standards Body’s (UNI’s) new UNI 11972 standard introduces a new analytical method for detecting honey adulteration based in Nuclear Magnetic Resonance technology.
In May 2024, USDA-FSIS published a final determination setting levels at which Salmonella would be consideredan adulterant in not-ready-to-eat (NRTE), breaded and stuffed chicken products, which also established a verification sampling program and a requirement for establishments to reassess their HACCP plans. FSIS has delayed the date for its sampling program and the HACCP reviews from May to November, 2025.
The EU Joint Research Center (JRC) has developed new methods for detecting adulteration in six popular herbs and spices, as well as new reference materials to help identify fraudulent fish products.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has released a new final Compliance Policy Guide on scombrotoxin (histamine) adulteration in fish and fishery products, and has lowered the acceptable levels for histamine in fish.
As a result of Operation OPSON 2024—an EU-wide coordinated effort targeting fraudulent and counterfeit foods—22,000 tons of food and 850,000 liters of beverages, totaling €91 million, were removed from the market.
Combining multiplex PCR and DNA barcoding, Chapman University researchers successfully detected fraudulent adulteration in half of ginseng supplement samples tested. With 28 percent of samples still unable to be identified, the researchers call for future studies combining DNA- and chemical-based testing methods.
In light of a recent investigation that found nearly half of honey imported to the EU is adulterated, UK researchers have demonstrated the promise of two innovative techniques—DNA barcoding and spatial offset Raman Spectroscopy—for detecting sugar adulterants in honey.
The UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) recently published the 2024 Food Crime Strategic Assessment. Since the last report in 2020, the UK food supply chain has faced significant disruptions, causing the food crime landscape to change and creating new opportunities for fraud.
USDA-FSIS has finalized its determination to declare Salmonella an adulterant in raw, breaded and stuffed chicken products at levels exceeding 1 colony forming unit per gram (CFU/g).
With regard to the recently recalled, lead-contaminated applesauce packages that have caused lead poisoning among dozens of children, Jim Jones, Deputy Commissioner for Human Foods at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), recently shared that the agency’s leading theory is economically motivated adulteration of cinnamon used in the products.
