Why you can't trust your spices and ingredients
Per Asia Year Of Are East Which Tons From Herbs Mostly Spices, 300,000 About Imports Spices And Europe
Food fraud is a major concern for consumers and the food industry.
Adulteration, mislabelling, and unapproved or undeclared enhancement of products have been observed in a variety of products. Now, the EU's Joint Research Centre has announced new laboratory methods to detect adulteration in six commonly used spices and herbs, a timely intervention ahead of the Christmas cooking season.
Culinary herbs and spices are valued for flavouring food and can be healthy ingredients with antioxidative and bacteriostatic effects, as well as certain pharmacological activities. However, their supply chain is complex, long, and globalised, and at each stage fraudulent manipulations can happen as the material is transferred from one operator to the next.
Europe imports about 300,000 tons per year of herbs and spices, which are mostly spices from East Asia. In the countries of production, there are post-harvest processes such as drying and cleaning, before shipping to the importing country, where they are further cleaned and sanitised before being packaged and distributed to other food businesses or for retail consumption.
The European Commission says adulterated herbs and spices are present on the EU market, but remain undetected. In 2021, the commission invited member states to sample certain herbs and spices and send them for analysis to the Joint Research Centre.
Twenty-one EU member states plus Norway and Switzerland submitted nearly 1,900 samples to JRC for analysis. Included were cumin, turmeric, oregano, paprika, chilli, pepper, and saffron.
Nearly 10,000 analyses were carried out on 1,885 samples, using state-of-the-art techniques to assess their purity. The overall rate of suspicious samples was 17% (323 out of 1,885), a significant proportion but still less than what was previously reported in scientific literature or by national food control institutions.
The oregano supply chain was most vulnerable, as 48% of samples were suspicious of being adulterated, in most cases with olive leaves. The percentage of samples which were suspicious of adulteration was 17% for pepper, 14% for cumin, 11% for turmeric, and 11% for saffron. The lowest suspicion rate (6%) was found for paprika/chilli.
The majority of suspicious samples contained non-declared plant material; in 2% of the analysed spice samples, non-authorised dyes were detected.
One sample contained a high level of lead chromate, which is listed by the European Chemicals Agency as a substance of very high concern, which may cause cancer, may damage the unborn child, and is suspected of damaging fertility, along with being very toxic to aquatic life.
Up to now, comprehensive methodologies to detect adulterants remained scarce, making it difficult for national control laboratories to enforce European and national legislation. However, the JRC has developed new methods to identify the top five adulterants for each of the seven spices and herbs it analysed in 2021.
For example, wheat in turmeric can be detected. In addition, the sensitivity of the methods will allow control laboratories to distinguish between inadvertent contamination and deliberate adulteration. This is part of an exercise to have harmonised validated methods in the EU, and to facilitate their implementation.
The JRC has also announced progress in the detection of the substitution of two commonly consumed fish, pollock and saithe, in processed products. New DNA-based detection methods can be used to authenticate pollock and saithe (also known as Atlantic pollock, coalfish, or coley).
The fight against fraudulent practices in the agri-food chain, through enhancing traceability, strengthening alert systems, and improving coordination is a priority at EU level.
EU legislation mandates transparency in the production, processing, and marketing of food products. National authorities are responsible for conducting regular inspections and controls to ensure compliance with those requirements.
