Original thinking: the technology that can determine the origin of food

As consumers become increasingly aware of the origin of food products, Waitrose is piloting a new technology to determine the authenticity of British produce. Using a process known as stable isotope ratio analysis, Norwich-based Food Forensics claims it can determine a product’s country of origin from its ‘environmental fingerprint’.

We talk to Alison Johnson, director of Food Forensics, about the technology and its potential to help reduce food fraud and protect the producers of home-grown products.

Forensics for food: stable isotope ratio analysis

Food Forensics technology is based on very sensitive science, explains Johnson. It relies on stable isotope ratio analysis – the same technology used in archeology, human forensics and for tracking the origin of illegal drugs.

So how to explain stable isotope ratio analysis to the laymen? "All plants and animals are made up of the nutrients and water they consume," explains Johnson. "Within the water and nutrients are fingerprint signals from stable isotopes: carbon, nitrogen, sulphur, hydrogen and oxygen. Isotopes are atoms of a chemical element with a different number of neutrons in the nucleus. Consequently, they have slightly different masses."

Stable isotopes are non radioactive, so they do not decay over time, but physical processes – evaporation, condensation, photosynthesis – can result in isotopic fractionation, the enrichment of one isotope relative to another.

"This is influenced by their geographical location," Johnson explains. "These fractionations for a range of isotopes provide a SIRA profile – an environmental fingerprint – relative to the location and agricultural practices of the production area. We use these to build a profile of the area where they were produced."

Determining geographical origin of food and drink

The technology is currently being tested to determine the geographical origin of everything from fruits, vegetables and even alcohol. The only limitation, explains Johnson, is how good the data set is.

"The process works on individual components, but as soon as you start blending materials it’s very difficult to extract an individual profile. Something like a sausage roll, where you’re mixing meat with herbs and spices, makes it very difficult to tell where the meat came from," she says.

Does Johnson anticipate the technology being refined to overcome this? "Potentially. It would require some very sophisticated techniques," she explains. "But rather than that, we favour the testing of the raw materials, either at retail shelf – for raw products – or at ingredients auditing within factories, before they’re put into blends. That way, we can still deliver authentication."

Can the Food Forensics technology differentiate between wild salmon and farmed? "Potentially yes, but there are other techniques that would enable that – DNA, fatty acid profiling. What we can do with isotopes which they can’t do effectively in other ways is validate free range eggs. We can tell whether they’re free range and organic or colony eggs."

Isoscapes: determining where food is from in Europe and Africa

Food Forensics is used to determine whether a product was grown in the UK, but can it also reveal where non UK-grown produce originated? "Yes," says Johnson, "providing we’ve got enough reference samples for the other source of supply.

"For something like tomatoes, we have a good European / North African database, so we can suggest where something may have been sourced from. We’re using a technique called isoscape [a portmanteau of isotope and landscape]. It’s a web-based tool which we use to input the individual isoscape profile, and it predicts the most likely places the product has come from."

The technology is still in development, but Johnson is particularly proud of their progress with isoscapes for pork, eggs and beef. "We currently have working databases and a commercial test on about 16 products, and development tests in production for a further 10 or 15 products. The number of products we’re able to validate is only limited to how quickly we can build authentic databases, so we put a lot of resources into the collection of authentic samples."

Fighting fraud: the importance of knowing food’s origin

A recent FSA report suggested that up to 10% of the food on our shelves is fraudulent, and costs the UK around £7bn per annum. Alan Wilson, technical manager for agronomy at Waitrose Supermarkets, understands why it’s so important to protect British consumers and retailers from food fraud.

"One of the most precious things we have at Waitrose is the trust of our customers," says Wilson. "It is something that we cherish, and it’s something that you can lose over night. If we’re claiming our produce is British, we have to jolly well make sure that it is British. And not just for Waitrose, but for the industry as a whole."

With Waitrose leading the way with Food Forensics, is Johnson hopeful about other supermarkets following suit? "I think other retailers are embracing this technology already, which is fantastic – not just for us, but for consumers too."

Is it likely that the FSA will consider implementing Food Forensics as a mandatory part of food authenticity regulations? "I suspect that will depend on the level of engagement across the retail sector," says Johnson.

"If retailers continue to proactively embrace the technology, then that would be very much in line with the government’s light touch-style regulations. If it doesn’t happen, there might be room for the FSA to look for a different type of engagement. But at the moment, I think it’s going to happen anyway."

After the horse meat scandal at the beginning of the year, Food Forensics seems a timely technology in terms of reassuring consumers about the origins of the produce they are purchasing, a suggestion Johnson wholeheartedly agrees with.

"The paper trail – as we’ve seen with the horse meat scandal – has proved itself not fit for purpose in today’s complex supplier chain," she explains. "For the first time, we’ve got an evidence-based test to enable validation and verification of produce, and I think that’s going to be absolutely vital for providing a deterrent effect to fraudsters, protecting consumer trust and protecting British suppliers and growers."