WRITTEN QUESTION E-1248/01

by Paulo Casaca (PSE) to the Commission

(26 April 2001)

Subject: Adulteration of food products

A few months ago I received a publication from the Commission entitled Letter from the JRC, which contained an extensive list of research activities carried out by the Commission in order to combat fraud, particularly in connection with the adulteration of wine.

Could the Commission say whether or not it is promoting any research activities into the detection of deodorised hazelnut oil used in the adulteration of olive oil?

Could it also say whether or not the Community's research programme includes methods for detecting adulteration and other types of fraud involving skimmed milk, casein subsidies, butter and other dairy products?

Answer given by Mr Busquin on behalf of the Commission

(1 August 2001)

In addition to the activities of the European Office for Wine, Alcohol and Spirit drinks which addresses questions regarding the authenticity of wine and alcoholic beverages, the Commission through its Joint Research Centre (JRC) has been investigating various analytical methods for their suitability for quantification of foreign oils in olive oil since a few years. Preliminary work has been carried out with sophisticated methods, such as stable isotope ratio mass spectrometry or nuclear magnetic resonance.

As those results demonstrated the capacity of such techniques for screening the adulteration of olive oil with hazelnut oil, a shared cost action project was recently initiated (financed by Directorate General for Research following a dedicated call published in October 1999), involving 14 laboratories from seven Member States besides the JRC. This project aims to consolidate the preliminary results and to elaborate other techniques. It started in January 2001 and has a duration of three years.

In addition to the project mentioned above on the determination of hazelnut oil in olive oil, the Commission through its Measurements and Testing generic activity also finances a project on the determination of glycerol in wine and a project related to the development of sensors to control milk quality and detect some specific type of milk adulteration started in February 2001 (G6RD-CT2000-00420 anti-fraude milk A Framilk).

In June 2001 the Commission will review the results of another project financed by the Standards Measurements and Testing (SMT) programme and certify five new reference materials that are important tools for the detection of wine chaptalisation (authentication of wines and sugars).

The JRC laboratory also has experience in the elaboration of analytical methods in the field of dairy products. The JRC was a partner in two such shared-cost actions on the determination of added casein/caseinate to cheese and development and validation of methods to determine the origin of milk, butter and cheese (Fourth framework programme for research and technological development, SMT programme; projects CT97-2208 and CT98-2236). It is not allowed to add these products to fresh cheese at all, but they can be added to cheese preparations by up to 5 %. As those products derive from skimmed milk and are therefore the same ingredients found in milk products, it has been demonstrated that this task is very challenging even when very sophisticated methods are applied.

Attention is also drawn to the fact that Commission Regulation (EC) No 213/2001 of 9 January 2001 laying down detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation (EC) No 1255/1999 as regards methods for the analysis and quality evaluation of milk and milk products and amending Regulations (EC) No 2771/1999 and (EC) No 2799/1999(1) contains a comprehensive list of reference methods for the analysis of milk and milk products under the common market organisation. This list contains methods for the detection of adulterations developed by the Experts Group of the Management Committee for Milk and Milk Products, e.g. methods for the detection of non-milk fat in milk fat, whey powder and buttermilk powder in milk powder or cows' milk in cheeses from ewes', goats' and buffalo's' milk. Other methods are presently being developed by the Experts Group to reinforce controls. These methods play an essential role in the control procedures operated in the framework of the different aid schemes in the milk sector.

The JRC is currently also carrying out the validation of methods for the determination of fat content in spreadable fats (mixtures of butter and margarine).

An overview of recent activities of the JRC in the field of food products is available from the Food Products Unit, Institute for Health and Consumer Protection of the Joint Research Centre.

(1) OJ L 37, 7.2.2001.