| In the area of verifying the geographical origin of agricultural products, the development of an appropriate laboratory capacity and analytical expertise was identified to ensure traceability (from stable to table). In the future, determination of the geographical origin should be performed within the official control.
So far, in Austria there is neither a database for the official control of the geographical origin available and verified nor a defined systematic approach how reference samples are to be taken. In addition, no strategy which metadata of reference samples or which data of analysis are to be integrated into the database is available. The approach of linking the analytical results from different methods in order to improve the conclusions was not taken into account in the past.
In order to establish databases for geographical origin, all the above mentioned aspects have to be considered and specified. This will enable us to assess samples of official control with regard to geographical origin in the future.
Verifying the origin of agricultural products is extremely important to uncover food fraud. The development of appropriate laboratory capacity and analytical expertise to ensure traceability (from stable to table) is necessary (AUTHENT feasibility study: Possibilities of analytical control of origin and adulteration along the agricultural value chain in Austria DaFNE project no.: 101602). Analysis of origin can reduce long-term damage caused by “food fraud” for Austrian agriculture.
So far, no analytical procedures for determining the geographical origin in Austria are applied within the official control. There are also no provenance databases available, except for a few private laboratories. Furthermore, systematic approaches for the development of secure databases are missing. Guidelines must be established on how reference samples are collected and the data processed (form and quality of analysis and metadata). Afterwards, these must be integrated into a database, taking into account quality management specifications. In addition, the approach of linking analysis resulting from different methods in order to improve the validity has not been pursued so far. The aspects mentioned must be defined or created in order to establish databases, which will ensure improved of market samples in the future by national control authorities. |