{"id":544560,"date":"2026-08-27T02:04:47","date_gmt":"2026-08-27T00:04:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.phytocontrol.com\/uncategorized\/jrc-report-on-food-fraud-in-herbs-and-spices-2\/"},"modified":"2026-08-27T02:04:47","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T00:04:47","slug":"jrc-report-on-food-fraud-in-herbs-and-spices-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.phytocontrol.com\/en\/regulatory-watch\/jrc-report-on-food-fraud-in-herbs-and-spices-2\/","title":{"rendered":"JRC report on food fraud in herbs and spices."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The European Commission set up a <strong>Coordinated Control Plan<\/strong> inviting EU member states to take samples of <strong>herbs and spices<\/strong> and send them for analysis to the Joint Research Centre (JRC).<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The main objective of this plan was to establish the market prevalence of certain <strong>non-conformities<\/strong> and possible <strong>illegal practices<\/strong> in the marketing of herbs and spices.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It has just published the <a href=\"https:\/\/publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu\/repository\/handle\/JRC126785\">results of this Coordinated Control Plan<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">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).<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">6 herbs and spices were analysed: <strong>cumin, turmeric, oregano, paprika\/chilli, pepper and saffron.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Nearly <strong>10,000 analyses<\/strong> were carried out on these <strong>1,885 samples<\/strong> using a range of state-of-the-art analytical techniques to assess sample purity.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Presence of unauthorised colourings.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The overall rate of spice adulteration with <strong>unauthorised colourings<\/strong> was <strong>2%<\/strong> (25 out of 1,340 samples).<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Unauthorised colourings were found in the following matrices:<\/p>\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>In turmeric, <strong>0.9%<\/strong> non-conformity, detection of Sudan I and Tartrazine.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In paprika\/chilli, <strong>2.2%<\/strong> non-conformity, detection of Sudan I, Allura Red, Bixin, Azorubine and Sunset Yellow.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In saffron, <strong>8.5%<\/strong> non-conformity, detection of Sudan I, Sunset Yellow, Azorubine, Acid Yellow 3, Tartrazine, Carminic Acid, Allura Red and Auramine O.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In turmeric, two unauthorised colourings were found: Sudan I and Tartrazine.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Amounts 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.<\/p>\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>None of the pepper samples contained unauthorised colourings.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Authenticity of herbs and spices.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The overall rate of suspicious samples was <strong>17%<\/strong>. Most of the suspicious samples contained undeclared plant material.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Oregano is the most vulnerable matrix, with <strong>48%<\/strong> of samples suspected of adulteration (with olive leaves but also thyme, peppermint, sage or myrtle). For the other matrices analysed, adulteration accounted for <strong>14%<\/strong> for cumin (presence of coriander, mustard, flax or pumpkin seeds), <strong>11%<\/strong> for turmeric (presence of paprika\/chilli or starch-containing species, curcuminoid content below standard), <strong>17%<\/strong> for pepper (presence of starch, mustard, paprika, garlic, cumin, fennel or coriander, piperine content below standard), <strong>11%<\/strong> for saffron (presence of safflower or marigold) and <strong>6%<\/strong> for paprika\/chilli (presence of corn, carrot, tomato, sunflower or onion\/garlic).<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Please note that your Phytocontrol laboratory offers analysis of banned colourings in spices as well as quantification of piperine and curcuminoid content in spices, under COFRAC accreditation.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">You can consult our COFRAC technical annex No. 1-1904, available in your customer area or on the COFRAC website.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Phytocontrol also offers you the possibility of checking and identifying the authenticity of your matrices with its plant species pack, using NGS technology.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Need technical, regulatory or pricing information? Our customer service is available from 8am to 8pm, Monday to Friday, at <a href=\"tel:+33800900775\">+33 800 900 775<\/a> or <a href=\"mailto:service-clients@phytocontrol.com\">service-clients@phytocontrol.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And to keep up to date with Phytocontrol news, join us on our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/phytocontrol-waters\/\">LinkedIn<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/laboratoirePHYTOCONTROL\">Facebook<\/a> pages!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The European Commission set up a Coordinated Control Plan inviting EU member states to take&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":13667,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[181],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-544560","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-regulatory-watch"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v28.4 (Yoast SEO v28.5) - 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