Authenticity of herbs & spices: Results of an EU wide coordinated control plan
Herbs and spices have a complex and globalized supply chain with a high risk of fraud. In 2015, several countries found undeclared nut protein in cumin and paprika. In addition to the economic loss caused by the recall of contaminated products, this fraud had serious public health consequences (allergen) and increased the demand for food protection.
With more than 300.000 tons imported in 2019, Europe is one of the world’s leading importing regions for herbs and spices. To preserve consumer health, the European Commission set up a coordinated control plan inviting the EU member states to sample 6 herbs and spices and send them for analysis to the Joint Research Centre (JRC). The main objective of the plan was to establish the prevalence on the market of some non-compliances and of some possible illegal practices into marketing of herbs and spices. Twenty-one EU member states plus Norway and Switzerland submitted samples, ground or crushed, to JRC for analysis.
As part of this investigation, nearly 10,000 analyses were performed by the JRC on a total of 1,885 samples.
Results :
- The overall rate of suspicious samples was 17%
- 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 were 17% for pepper, 14% for cumin, 11% for curcuma, 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.
Since its beginnings, Eurofins has been involved in the fight against food fraud with significant economic and health consequences. Increasingly sophisticated, fraud is becoming difficult to detect by conventional analyses. Our Authenticity and Molecular Biology laboratories are constantly evolving to offer you advanced analytical techniques to detect non-compliant products and unique support to protect your customers and consumers.
→ More information about our solutions to preserve the integrity of your herbs and spices (including tea) and the European control plan report here
