Fast methods for authentication of organic plant based foods

Summary

The market shares for organic products have continuously grown over the last decade. Organic products are generally sold at premium prices compared to conventional ones. Recently, there have been a growing number of reported cases, where conventional food products were mislabelled and fraudulently sold as organic. Consequently, there is an urgent need for development and validation of analytical methods, which allow discrimination between organic and conventional food products. These tools will be essential remedies for certification and inspection bodies in order to strengthen the credibility of the growing organic sector within EU. During the last decade several analytical methods have been suggested for authentication of organic crops, but a comprehensive evaluation of the methodologies has not yet been performed. In AuthenticFood, several analytical methods will be further developed and evaluated for organic authentication by 16 partners from 11 European countries, encompassing agronomists, analytical chemists as well as inspection and certification bodies, with significant expertise in authentication and organic agriculture.