JRC report on food fraud in herbs and spices
The European Commission has set up a Coordinated Control Plan inviting EU member states to take samples of herbs and spices and send them for analysis to the Joint Research Centre (JRC).
The main objective of this plan was to establish the market prevalence of certain non-conformities and possible illegal practices in the marketing of herbs and spices.
It has just published the results of this Coordinated Control Plan.
It is to date the largest survey on the authenticity of culinary herbs and spices in terms of participating countries (23 countries) and samples analysed (1,885).
6 herbs and spices were analysed: cumin, turmeric, oregano, paprika/chilli, pepper and saffron.
Nearly 10,000 analyses were carried out on these 1,885 samples using a range of advanced analytical techniques to assess the purity of the samples.
Presence of unauthorised colourings.
The overall rate of adulteration of spices with unauthorised colourings was 2% (25 samples out of 1,340).
Unauthorised colourings were found in the following matrices:
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- In turmeric, 0.9% non-conformity, detection of Sudan I and Tartrazine.
- In paprika/chilli, 2.2% non-conformity, detection of Sudan I, Allura Red, Bixin, Azorubine and Sunset Yellow.
- In saffron, 8.5% non-conformity, detection of Sudan I, Sunset Yellow, Azorubine, Acid Yellow 3, Tartrazine, Carminic acid, Allura Red and Auramine O.
- In turmeric, two unauthorised colourings were found: Sudan I and Tartrazine.
Quantities of lead (2 g/kg) and chromium (0.5 g/kg), in the form of lead chromate, were also reported. Lead chromate acts as an adulterant to enhance the bright yellow colour of turmeric.
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- None of the pepper samples contained unauthorised colourings.
Authenticity of herbs and spices.
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- The overall rate of suspect samples was
17%
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- . Most of the suspect samples contained undeclared plant material.
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- Oregano is the most vulnerable matrix, with
48%
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- of samples suspected of being adulterated (with olive leaves but also thyme, peppermint, sage or myrtle). For the other matrices analysed, adulteration accounted for 14% for cumin (presence of coriander, mustard, flax or squash seeds), 11% for turmeric (presence of paprika/chilli or starch-containing species, curcuminoid content below standard), 17% for pepper (presence of starch, mustard, paprika, garlic, cumin, fennel or coriander, piperine content below standard), 11% for saffron (presence of safflower or marigold) and 6% for paprika/chilli (presence of maize, carrot, tomato, sunflower or onion/garlic).
