Articles - Food Control

Spotlight on a young, fast-growing network: Tentamus Group.TENTAMUS GROUP KEY FIGURESENTAMUS GROUP KEY FIGURESFounded in: 2011Present in: 19 countriesNumber of laboratories: more than 65Revenues (2019): not providedEmployees: 3 000Food companies outsource most of their analytical controls. Apart from antibiotics in milk and mycotoxins in grains (da [...]

Recommendations to facilitate the adoption of non-targeted mass spectrometry-based methods in food authenticity assessments.      Introduction Food authenticity is one of the major concerns of producers, consumers, and regulators. Today it is important to verify that food package labelling corresponds to the actual characteristics of [...]

Alongside other current industrial approaches, next-generation sequencing (NGS) plays an important role in addressing food fraud and ensuring food authenticity.     Introduction Next-generation sequencing (NGS) has been primarily associated with work in academia and work in human health-related fields. The insulation of NGS within these f [...]

A survey to investigate topics including the technologies used, the number of analyses conducted, and the test kits’ certifications.Rapid testing for grainAflatoxin and deoxynivalenol (DON) contamination of grain depends on several factors, primary among them weather conditions in the pre-harvest period. In Europe, aflatoxin in corn is mostly a p [...]

Abstract – Ochratoxin A has been regulated in Europe since 2006, with the first official risk assessment dating back to 1994. There have been many efforts over the years in the agro-food system to control, monitor, and mitigate its occurrence in food commodities. However, the recent scientific evaluation of EFSA shed light on several still-op [...]

Abstract  With the comprehensive legislation in many countries and co-existence of mycotoxins in different agricultural commodities and foods, as well as large monitoring and risk assessment programs related to these compounds, finding rapid, easy-to-use, accurate, and cost-effective solutions for multi-mycotoxin detection is of high demand. T [...]

Although multiresidue detection seems like the ideal screening test for antibiotic residues, just a few platforms that accomplish this are actually available. Advantages and limitations of the commercially available systems are hereby presented.     Although multiresidue detection in food and feed seems like the ideal screening test, and [...]

How new fraud definitions and production guidelines together with state-of-the-art analytical tools help to ensure that honey in the marketplace is authentic and truly labeled.     Food authenticity and food fraud by economically motivated adulteration have been major issues in the food sector since the horse meat scandal in 2013. The EU [...]

Traditional methods for honey authentication become obsolete or demand load of resources. New rapid methods are on the rise.Raw honey is considered to be a natural energy source with many positive effects on health: antioxidant, antibacterial, and antifungal properties; hay fever prevention; prebiotic; sore throat remedy; etc. On the other hand, if [...]

 Standardization of methods could soon be easier. Introduction Effective food allergen risk assessment and food allergen management are important to protect allergic consumers and to comply with allergen labeling regulations. Such approaches require reliable analytical tools for the detection of allergens in food. Due to the nature of the analyt [...]

ELISA kits can hardly be considered quantitative and LFDs play a key role in the food industry but performance is rarely documented.     Regulatory environment  EU Regulation No 1169/2011 specifies fourteen substances or products causing allergens or intolerances for which food labeling is mandatory when they are known ingredients. I [...]

The point of view of the test kit manufacturers. Service laboratories and industries, as well as governmental bodies, rely on ELISA kits for the detection of food allergens. Recently, a number of guidelines for the validation of ELISA methods for detecting allergens have been issued by the analytical chemistry community (AOAC) and by technical bod [...]

Laboratories primarily use ELISA kits and while sensitivity is considered satisfactory, recoveries in some matrices are not – opinions diverge about thresholds and the need for multiplex methods.The allergen testing laboratory point of view is interesting because laboratories operate between test kit manufacturers and food businesses. Allergen te [...]