On September 10, the AOAC Food Fraud Task Force met in a virtual event where excellent presentations were given by the chairs of the working groups as well as by Jean-Louis LaFeuille and Greg Corbishley, co-chairs of the European Spice Association (ESA) food authenticity working group, and by Sibyl Swift from the Natural Products Association (NPA). In case you have missed the meeting, you can register to view it on demand (VoD). Videos of the recorded sessions will be made available to registered users until early 2021.
In a nutshell, the working group briefly summarized the work completed so far, which includes the approval of Standard Method Performance Requirements (SMPRs) for honey, milk, and extra virgin olive oil for targeted and non-targeted chemistry methods. Daniele Sohier introduced the new working group on molecular biological methods and presented her roadmap.
The presentations by Greg Corbishley and Jean-Louis LaFeuille from ESA and Sibyl Swift from NPA highlighted the challenges for both product segments and the analytical gaps.
The vertical groups for targeted and non-targeted chemistry methods as well as for targeted and non-targeted agreed that they would focus on the matrices relevant for the herbs and spice industry as well as for the botanicals segment. A preliminary poll identified already some priority matrices within these segments.
