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Food fraud is not to be confused with food safety. Food safety issues always have a biochemical component that, at least potentially, can be detected by analytical methods and instruments.

On the other hand, food authenticity and food fraud are areas of growing importance in standardization and the number of projects and initiatives addressing them is growing too. New standards, but also new legislation, will require a common understanding of words. As food authenticity is multi-disciplinary in nature and many words have different meanings in different contexts, CEN/TC 460 'Food authenticity' wants to facilitate coherent communication between different disciplines.

In 2024, CEN/TC 460 will work on the draft European Standard prEN 17972 'Food authenticity and fraud — Concepts, terms, and definitions'. This standard aims to be the main source of terms and definitions regarding food authenticity and fraud in Europe. It will also be the terminological base for all future standards within the food authenticity.

The interest in algae and algae-based products or intermediates has increased significantly in Europe: algae represent a valuable source of important nutrients such as carbohydrates, proteins, lipids, and several pigments. Materials based on algae are suitable for use in a wide range of applications, from food and feed to other sectors, such as textiles, cosmetics, biopolymers, biofuel and fertilizer/biostimulants. In this context, standardization plays an important role in promoting the use of this type of materials.

CEN/TC 454 ‘Algae and algae products’ develops European Standards under Standardization Request M/547 on algae and algae-based products or intermediates.

Following the appropriate preliminary studies, in 2024, the committee will finalize EN 17908, which specifies a laboratory method for the determination of the total lipid content in micro- and macroalgae using the Ryckebosch-Foubert method. Good experiences are obtained with the help of the Ryckebosch-Foubert method, which makes use of an extraction protocol with chloroform-methanol 1:1 as a solvent. Therefore, the method will be used as starting protocol for the development of the new standard.

Furthermore, the TC will work on the development of seven new standards on topics such as protein, amino acid, polysaccharides, fatty acids, inorganic arsenic, carotenoid and phycobiliprotein.

Finally, the terms and definitions standard EN 17399 ‘Algae and algae products - Terms and definitions’ will be revised to keep up with the latest developments.

CEREAL AND CEREAL PRODUCTS

In 2024, CEN/TC 338 'Cereal and cereal products' will be working on a new European standard, EN 15731. Following a collaborative study conducted to complete data for CEN/TS 15731:2008 'Cereals and cereal products - Common wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) - Determination of alveograph properties of dough at adapted hydration from commercial or test flours and test milling methodology', the TC decided to incorporate the study results and to convert the CEN Technical Specification (TS) into a full European Standard (EN) on the same topic. The standard will include a stage 1 on the preparation of the wheat grain and a stage 2 on the milling process itself.

FOOD ANALYSIS

The focus of CEN/TC 275 ‘Food analysis - Horizontal methods’ is to develop standards offering detection methods to estimate contaminants, pesticides, allergens and toxins, thus ensuring food security.
In 2024, CEN/TC 275 will work on a series of standards for the determination of contaminants in foodstuffs by cold vapour atomic fluorescence spectrometry (for instance, EN 13806).

In addition, the TC will also work on a new standard determining the minimum performance requirements for quantitative measurement of a series of food allergens: milk, egg, peanut, hazelnut, almond, walnut, cashew, pecan nut, brazil nut, pistachio nut, macadamia nut, wheat, lupine, sesame, mustard, soy, celery, fish, molluscs, and crustaceans.