Food adulteration

Apart from microbiological, physicochemical and organoleptic parameters, there are also such parameters which serve to assess correctness and state that a product is not adulterated. According to the Act of 25 August 2006 on food and nutrition safety, an adulterated foodstuff is a foodstuff the composition or other properties of which have been changed, and the consumer has not been informed about it in the manner specified in the provisions of the Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2011 on the provision of food information to consumers, amending European Parliament and Council Regulations (EC) No 1924/2006 and (EC) No 1925/2006 and repealing Commission Directive 87/250/EEC, Council Directive 90/496/EEC, Commission Directive 1999/10/EC, Directive 2000/13/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council, Commission Directives 2002/67/EC and 2008/5/EC and Commission Regulation (EC) No 608/2004, as amended, or a foodstuff which has been modified in order to disguise its true composition or other properties.

With the aim of systematising this problem, the adulteration of a foodstuff is referred to in particular when:

substances which alter its composition or reduce its nutritional value have been added,
contrary – an ingredient has been removed or the content of one or more ingredients with a nutritional or other characteristic of the foodstuff has been reduced,
attempts have been made to disguise the true composition or to give the appearance of a foodstuff of acceptable quality,
the name, composition, date or place of manufacture, use-by date or date of minimum durability are not correctly stated,
it has been incorrectly labelled.

Dairy products are some of the most adulterated foods in the world. There are several examples of improper practice of dairy product adulteration.

Our laboratory at J.S. Hamilton Poland will detect:

the presence of cow’s milk in sheep’s or goat’s cheese,
the presence of foreign fat in butter, cheese and processed cheese,
the presence of starch in milk products,
dilution of the liquid milk with water,
incorrect labelling of the product.

We pay particular attention in the field of milk product testing to the analysis of triacylglycerols – the addition of foreign fats. This makes it possible to detect both vegetable and animal fats.

Another group of relatively often adulterated products are meat products and raw meat. Two groups can be distinguished, for which dedicated tests are performed:

raw meat:

added water content,
physiological factor for poultry species,
antibiotics in fresh meat.

meat products:

added meat of other undeclared species or absence of meat of a species declared on the package,
the presence of starch,
non-compliance regarding the presence and content of preservatives (e.g. sodium benzoate),
non-compliance regarding the presence and content of other food additives, i.e. added phosphates, nitrates and nitrites,
The presence of colouring,
the presence of undeclared allergenic ingredients, e.g. soy, celery, milk proteins,
the presence of bone particles and undeclared MSM,
non-compliance with the declaration of the meat content of products.

Spices, due to their country of origin, high economic value and growing demand, may be vulnerable to adulteration, therefore the manufacturers put a special emphasis on quality control and safety of herbs and spices. The J.S. Hamilton Poland laboratory has a wide range of dedicated tests for spices and herbs, including analyses:

identification of the country of origin of the raw material/product,
essential oil content,
Acid insoluble ash content,
irradiation,
contamination,
colouring,
piperine in pepper.

Other products, such as honey, vegetable fats, oil seeds, vegetables, fruits, fish, cereals and cereal products, beverages and juices can be tested for adulteration in the J.S. Hamilton Poland laboratory.

Laboratory tests

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