Ciboris, partner of Primoris Holding, is currently organising a series of trainings on food authenticity for persons in charge of quality and purchase in the agri-food industry. Companies and consumers are regularly confronted with reports of food fraud and food authenticity. The best-known food-fraud scandals of the last years are without doubt the presence of melamine in milk powder for babies, the horse-meat affair, the fipronil crisis, … Adulteration (mixing with cheaper materials to increase the product’s supposed value) and false determination of origin are some of the most occurring cases of food fraud. Such practices inevitably lead to reduced food quality and can even lead to issues with food safety.

Problems concerning food fraud are becoming one of the most important challenges in the food industry. Consumers lose confidence in the food producers, expensive recalls are in order and reputational damage is not limited to the individual company, but affects the entire sector.

The government’s reaction (on EU scale) consists of i.a. adapted legislation, the foundation of the EU Food Fraud Network and the Knowledge Centre for Food Fraud. A considerable number of certification standards, such as BRC and IFS, are forcing companies in the food sector to conduct a food-fraud-sensitivity analysis in order to identify the raw materials that are most sensitive to fraud. Furthermore, the food companies need to compose corrective measures to reduce said risks. Consequently, the food-fraud approach is thoroughly anchored within the current quality-care systems of the food industry.

According to Regulation (EU) 2017/625 competent authorities need to preform official controls regularly based on the risk and with an appropriate frequency. Such controls of course need to be supported by reliable analysis methods, which results in large investments over the last couple of years to develop new analysis methods allowing for a more efficient detection of food fraud.

The training provided by Ciboris offers an overview of the different types of food fraud and products that are most susceptible to fraud. Further, participants are shown various tools that use examples to demonstrate food-fraud-sensitivity analysis. Subsequently, the training examines an overview of the available analytical methods by discussing their pros and cons.

Are you interested in attending one of the remaining trainings in 2019? Contact us via info@ciboris.org or visit our website for more information (www.ciboris.org).