By George Nott2021-01-28T09:35:00+00:00
The categories worst hit by food fraud were spirits, wine and honey
The Covid pandemic is causing a rise in global food fraud, a report by the government-backed Food Authenticity Network has found.
Analysis by the network found a 37% rise in food fraud cases taken from both official sources and media reports, when comparing the first half of 2020 to the same period in 2019. The worst hit categories were spirits, wine and honey.
Adulteration cases increased by 30% and counterfeit incidents by 47%.
The situation could be even worse, given the current reduced regulatory oversight globally, the report notes. “It is likely that the true impact of Covid-19 on the incidence of global food fraud will not be known until full resumption of regulatory surveillance worldwide,” the report states.
By George Nott2021-01-28T15:39:00+00:00
If you think food fraudsters are sitting out the pandemic at home, think again. Last year, Interpol and Europol’s joint Operation Opson seized more than £29m worth of potentially dangerous fake food and drink, disrupting the work of 19 organised crime groups and leading to 407 arrests.
Among the takings: some 3.6 tonnes of unsafe dairy products set to be processed into cheese, discovered in Bulgaria. In Jordan, 6,500 litres of fizzy drinks readied for sale.
“In times of crisis, criminals always look for new ways to abuse consumers and increase their illegal profit,” said Europol chief Catherine De Bolle as she revealed the haul. The 17,000 false Covid-19 testing kits taken out of circulation by the operation shows just how low the crims will go.
Toa55/iStock/Thinkstock. New approach will involve use of mass spectrometry to develop a rapid diagnosis of mastitis directly from a suspected milk sample.
Jan 22, 2021
A research project to tackle bovine mastitis and reduce the use of broad-spectrum antibiotics in dairy cattle, the widescale use of which can contribute to the development of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), is being launched by the Institute for Global Food Security (IGFS) at Queen’s University Belfast in partnership with AgriSearch and the Agri-Food & Biosciences Institute (AFBI).
The new approach will involve the use of mass spectrometry – an analytical method using sophisticated laboratory equipment – to develop a rapid diagnosis of mastitis directly from a suspected milk sample. This will initially use laboratory-based equipment but could potentially be translated to an on-site test to further increase test turnaround times.
Focus intensifies on impact of tiny plastics on human body Irish researchers helping international effort to close knowledge gap
Thu, Jan 21, 2021, 06:00
The impact of plastic pollution in our oceans, on our coastlines, in our soils and ultimately in our food and water has become a hot topic for environmentalists around the world – and, increasingly, for public-health specialists.
British broadcaster and natural historian David Attenborough’s Blue Planet series highlighted how sea creatures and fish species were dying from becoming entangled in plastic debris or eating microplastics. Yet in spite of all this attention on plastic pollution, we still know very little about the impact of micro- and nanoplastics on the human body that arise from the fragmentation of plastics down to a sub-micrometre scale.
Image source: David Ruffles
Three Northern Ireland organisations have joined forces to launch a research project to tackle bovine mastitis and lameness in a bid to reduce the use of antibiotics in dairy cattle.
The project will be run by the Institute for Global Food Security (IGFS) at Queen’s University Belfast in partnership with AgriSearch and the Agri-Food & Biosciences Institute (AFBI).
The new approach will involve the use of mass spectrometry – an analytical method using sophisticated laboratory equipment – to develop a rapid diagnosis of mastitis directly from a suspected milk sample.
This will initially use laboratory-based equipment but it’s hoped this could eventually form the basis for an on-site test to further improve result turnaround times.