Abstract
The EU General Food Law not only aims at ensuring food safety but also to ‘prevent fraudulent or deceptive practices; the adulteration of food; and any other practices which may mislead the consumer’. Especially the partial or complete, deliberate, and intentional substitution of valuable ingredients (e.g., Saffron) for less valuable ones is of concern. Due to the variety of products on the market an approach to detect food adulteration that works well for one species may not be easily applicable to another. Here we present a broadly applicable approach for the detection of substitution of biological materials based on digital PCR. By simultaneously measuring and forecasting the number of genome copies in a sample, fraud is detectable as a discrepancy between these two values. Apart from the choice of target gene, the procedure is identical across all species. It is scalable, rapid, and has a high dynamic range. We provide proof of concept by presenting the analysis of 141 samples of Saffron (Crocus sativus) from across the European market by DNA accounting and the verification of these results by NGS analysis.
Highlights
We have developed a method called ‘DNA accounting’ for screening the purity of single-species food ingredients using droplet digital polymerase chain reaction (PCR)
Reference samples used in this study include Arnica montana, Beta vulgaris, Bixa orellana, Buddleja officinalis, Calendula officinalis, Crocus sativus, Crocus speciosus, Crocus vernus, Daucus carota, and Hemerocallis fulva
Species-specific PCR is the method of choice to target a particular adulterant, e.g., horse meat in beef patties, which, by multiplexing, can be extended to target several, known adulterants
Summary
Laws and regulations to combat these practices can be found throughout history: ancient food regulations are referred to in Egyptian, Chinese, Hindu, Greek, and Roman texts. The EU General Food Law—next to protecting public health—aims to ‘prevent fraudulent or deceptive practices; the adulteration of food; and any other practices which may mislead the consumer’ (Article 8 of Regulation (EC) No 178/2002 ). Food fraud is not explicitly defined in EU legislation, the Food Information to Consumers Regulation (Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011) concretises the relevant aspects of the General Food Law in Article 7 (Fair information practices) by stipulating that food information shall not be misleading, as to the characteristics of the food and, in particular, as to its nature, identity, properties, composition, quantity, durability, country of origin or place of provenance, and method of manufacture or production
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