| Based on the „farm to fork“ strategy of the European commission, the increasing awareness of consumers towards sustainable and regional agricultural production and the already existing legal requirements for labeling of origin, there is an increased interest to deal with the issue to control authenticity. Geographical origin and adulteration together are put under the terminology of authenticity.
The present feasibility study intended to systematically review the current analytical possibilities of authenticity aspects and thus provide a decision-making basis for further steps of an implementation or for the further expansion of relevant analytics. The core of the study consists of a literature research on current publications dealing with analytical methods of authenticity testing. Furthermore, the relevance with regard to applicability in practice was considered. In addition, the market quantities of agricultural products were linked to authenticity for a risk-oriented approach. The investigation was completed by a survey of activities regarding authenticity and food fraud at the European level, which revealed a large number of different activities. Based on these results, SWOT analyzes were carried out for the individual methods within AGES, which already performs a number of adulteration analysis on a regularly basis.
Analysis of adulterations are mainly standardized, partially even in highly processed products and implemented in many facets at AGES. It is advisable to expand and use non-targeted methods (fingerprints) in the future. Verification of geographical origin in plant-based foods and honey has already found its way into practice. For animal products such as meat, proof of origin is not yet feasible and is currently at the level of research. Authenticity control will be a promising strategy to prevent food fraud. Several routinely proven applications for different fields are already implemented in Germany.
If a decision is made to expand the authenticity analysis or to implement new technologies, an intensive exchange with responsible regional official laboratories and authorities as well as with the national reference center for authentic food in Germany is strongly recommended. It is important to set up a central office for authenticity control in Austria in order to use all possible synergies. Certification programs can also be considered as promising tool for a control strategy. |