Counterfeiting of food of animal origin in future be more readily detected
Berlin.Does the feta cheese and cow's milk? Is processed in the beef salami and pork? These and other questions about adulteration of food of animal origin at the center of today officially launched the research project "Animal ID"The Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR). "Illegal admixtures of meat, if they are discovered, unsettle not only consumers, but can also pose health risks", says BfR President Professor Dr. Dr. Andreas Hensel.
“It is therefore imperative that the supervisory authorities have methods at their disposal to detect such food adulterations quickly and reliably.” The aim of the project is to develop new analysis methods with the help of which animal components can be reliably detected in food and feed. Among other things, sensitive and efficient rapid tests are to be developed for this purpose, which can be easily used on site, for example in companies and during official controls. The Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL), Dr. Maria Flachsbarth, today handed over the grant notification for the research project to the BfR in the presence of representatives from science and the media.
The zoological origin of animal food must be verifiable for official controls, especially if the goods can no longer be visually assigned to an animal species due to their processing. This is especially true in the field of animal feed, some of which have to be processed under extreme conditions such as high heat and high pressure. This type of processing makes it difficult for monitoring authorities to analytically prove the authenticity of a feed or food. With the help of the methods currently available, the legal requirements can therefore often not or only partially be met. Against this background, new procedures are required.
As part of the project, different strategies are being pursued for differently processed food and feed: In order to close the gaps in the previously available methods in the feed sector, the method of mass spectrometry in combination with innovative methods for peptide or protein enrichment is the most realistic Alternative. This method has the advantage over other methods of being up to ten times more sensitive. Rapid immunological tests are suitable for less processed food and feed. In contrast to the previous methods, these can be carried out on site within around ten minutes without specific expertise or laboratory. In the course of the project, such immunological rapid tests are to be developed for the most important animal species in meat products such as beef, pork, horse, sheep, goat, chicken, turkey, goose, duck as well as reindeer, elk and deer.
Adulteration of food of animal origin can not only shake consumer confidence, but also pose a health risk if For example, as in the case of the transmission of the bovine disease BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy), feed enters the food chain that is contaminated with the body's own proteins, known as prions, in their harmful form. For consumer health protection it is therefore of fundamental importance that the authenticity of food and feed can be checked analytically. The causes of the adulteration can be illegal practices as well as unintentional admixtures of undeclared animal components.
The new research project "Animal-ID" is funded by the BMEL based on a resolution of the German Bundestag. In addition to the BfR, the Natural Science and Medical Institute at the University of Tübingen (NMI) and the Institute for Product Quality GmbH (ifp) are partners in the project, which is coordinated by the BfR. The national reference laboratory for animal protein in feed is located at the BfR; A core task of the reference laboratory is to develop and validate standard methods that can support the authorities in monitoring food and feed in accordance with legal requirements.
About BfR
The Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) is a scientific institution within the portfolio of the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL). It advises the federal government and the federal states on questions of food, chemical and product safety. The BfR conducts its own research on topics that are closely related to its assessment tasks.
