Articles -

Russian authorities and businesses have yet to achieve a consensus on how best to improve the domestic food market laboratory testing system.     The Russian government is set to strengthen the state laboratory diagnostic system in order to ensure that all products of the Russian-origin landing on the domestic and foreign markets have suf [...]

There is a temptation - and a risk - to externalizing internal activities like laboratory diagnostics. Is an internal lab always necessary? Is an external lab always better? The answer lies somewhere in between.          Introduction   Monitoring processes for product composition, for process control and variability, o [...]

Validation of a new and novel Patulin ELISA kit   Background   The presence of toxic chemical contaminants in food, particularly those intended for children's consumption, is a matter of great concern to consumers and health authorities. Mycotoxins in food, animal feed, and beverages have been recognized as a potential threat to human and [...]

Food fraud (FF) that generates monetary gains is also known as Economically Motivated Adulteration (EMA). It is a widespread practice that undermines not only food authenticity, but also food safety due to the potential presence of toxic or undeclared adulterants. Increasingly accurate and sensitive authentication methods, including a variety of sp [...]

Four years ago the EU food market was hit by the fipronil scandal. The epicenter was in the Netherlands, the EU’s largest egg exporter. Contaminated eggs were found in almost every European country. In this issue, we will revisit this case because there is still much to learn from it. The US perspective was enlightening: “The case appea [...]

European consumers spent years unknowingly eating eggs contaminated by a banned pesticide. Was it really unpredictable? Could it happen again?     A brief history On 22 July 2017, Dutch consumers read in their newspapers that the eggs in their markets may be contaminated by a pesticide. In a few days, the alarm spread and became a Europea [...]

Dietary supplements: how natural contaminants may turn botanical remedies into a Pandora’s box.       Food supplements: a growing market trend  According to the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA 2009), food supplements are “concentrated sources of nutrients or other substances with a nutritional or physiological e [...]

A mandatory, unique, standardized register for all EU member States is necessary, despite the difficulties of implementation. However, such a register is still a long way off.         Introduction   While most people around the world can enjoy their meals without a second thought, for an unlucky few, what is on their plate [...]

A perfect tool for implementing the allergen analysis as part of the food safety quality control assessment.   It is well known that food allergies are an immune system reaction to a food or a substance in food. Even a tiny amount of allergy-causing food can trigger signs and symptoms such as digestive problems, hives or swollen airways. In s [...]

New assay for measurement of gluten in oats and avoiding false negatives in the analysis of milk substitutes.     While there are many kits available for the detection of gluten from wheat, barley and rye, there has not been a reliable kit for the detection of oat prolamins until now.  ELISA Systems has recently released a kit for t [...]

An International Standard based Real-Time PCR detection portfolio.   DNA based technology is a relatively new approach for the detection of food allergens, a field traditionally dominated by immunoassays.   DNA methods are indirect methods to detect food allergens as they do not detect the allergenic protein itself, but the DNA sequences [...]

Russian scientists and environmentalists have raised concerns that some food on the grocery shelves could be contaminated with agricultural chemicals.     Abnormal bee mortality in Central Russia caused losses close to 1 trillion rubles (USD 5 billion) for farmers over the past few years according to official estimates from the Russian Na [...]

Introducing alternative and sustainable sources of proteins in the human diet is crucial to guarantee nutrition security while reducing the impact on the environment. Allergenicity assessment of novel ingredients aims to provide safe food to consumers.         Introduction     The world population is increasing by 1% e [...]

Agrochemicals and pesticides as indirect actuators of antimicrobial resistance.     Introduction   Agriculture is important for a country’s economy. With increasing industrialisation and growing populations, land resources for cultivation are decreasing. Large amounts of chemicals are used worldwide to control pests and weeds a [...]

Since early 2021, we have stopped seeing the numerous recalls triggered by the presence of ethylene oxide (EO) in ingredients and food products. Quite “surprisingly”, a lot of certified organic food products were implicated in these recalls, and so-called locally-made foods have turned out to contain very non-local ingredients. But is it really [...]