Article 8 of Regulation (EC) No 178/2002, “General principles and requirements of food law, establishing the European Food Safety Authority and laying down procedures in matters of food safety”, lays down special provisions on the protection of consumers’ interests:
“Food law shall aim at the protection of the interests of consumers and shall provide a basis for consumers to make informed choices in relation to the foods they consume. It shall aim at the prevention of (a) fraudulent or deceptive practices, (b) the adulteration of food; and (c) any other practices which may mislead the consumer.”.
Food frauds are often highly profitable and being so they are very spread worldwide. Some examples of food frauds and/or adulteration are extension of milk and wine with water, extension of fruit juices with corn syrup solids, extension of honey with beet invert sugar, blending of PDO extra virgin olives with other low grade quality olive oils, addition of hydrolysates of proteins to meat (binding water), rotten meat or meat exceeding the best before date (BBD), etc.
The first aim of the Food Authenticity WG is, therefore, to protect consumers from a wide range of current food frauds and illegal practices, by both promoting honest and informative labelling so that they can make informed choices (see more about labelling and authenticity legislation) and by providing the most suitable scientific tools. There is a great need to develop tools enabling scientists/researchers to uncover (i) misdescription of foods not meeting the requirements for a legal name; (ii) substitution by cheaper but similar ingredient; (iii) undeclared processes (e.g. irradiation, freezing) and/or extension of food using adulterant (water, starch), and (iv) incorrect origin, e.g. geographic, species or method of production.
Traceability methods and systems need therefore to be developed in order to provide consumers with added confidence in the authenticity of European and worldwide foods.
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