Titel Deelnemers "Food integrity climate and culture assessment to prevent fraud in food businesses" "Waeel Salih Alrobaish" "How the food industry experiences and perceives food fraud" "I. Djekic, A. Rezek Jambrak, J. Djugum, Andreja Rajkovic" "Successful quantification of Atlantic salmon in mixed food products using Droplet Digital Polymerase Chain Reaction (ddPCR) to identify fraud" "Seafood plays an important role in the human diet, and as fish stocks are on the decline, morefraudulent practices are prone to happen. Salmonids are important fish species in large parts of theworld, both commercially and as game fish, with Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) being the most farmedmarine fish. Cheaper salmonid species are potentially used as substitutes for the more expensivesalmon species. Up till now, no tool existed to reliably quantify Atlantic salmon in mixed food products.The most used technique for seafood identification is DNA barcoding through Sanger sequencing, whichdoes not allow quantification and only works when the sample contains one single species.By using Droplet Digital Polymerase Chain Reaction or ddPCR, we developed a quantification tool toassess the percentage of Atlantic salmon in mixed food products to allow for a quick identification ofseafood fraud. A Salmo salar specific ddPCR assay was designed using the nuclear rhodopsin gene ofAtlantic salmon and nine closely related salmonid species, i.e. pink salmon (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha),chum salmon (O. keta), Coho salmon (O. kisutch), rainbow trout (O. mykiss), sockeye salmon (O. nerka),Chinook salmon (O. tshawytscha), brown trout (S. trutta) and Arctic char (Salvelinus alpinus). No crossamplificationwas detected and the limit of detection was set at 0.37 copies per μl (0.024 ng total DNA)and a limit of quantification at 5.51 copies per μl (3 ng total DNA). A linear relation (R² = 0.96) was foundbetween total DNA added to the PCR mix and the measured target copies. This is in agreement withother qPCR studies, where multi-copy genes were used instead of the nuclear rhodopsin.Subsequently, the accuracy of quantification was tested in multiple species samples by mixing bothextracted DNA and tissues from different salmonid species with Atlantic salmon tissue. The ddPCRmethod was able to reliably estimate the percentage of Atlantic salmon DNA, even when mixing salmontissues in different weight percentages. A linear relationship (R² = 0.89) was found between the DNAconcentration of Atlantic salmon in the extract (i.e. DNA added to the PCR mix) and the concentrationmeasured by the ddPCR. This confirms that the real percentage of Atlantic salmon in a mixed foodproduct can be successfully deduced by the developed ddPCR assay.We further tested the impact of four common processing techniques, since food processing can heavilyimpact the quality and quantity of DNA. Freezing samples led to significantly lower DNA copy numbers.Smoking, Bellevue boiling or gravad lax did not significantly impact the DNA copy number quantification.Finally, the ddPCR method was validated by testing 46 retail products (31 Belgian and 15 Polish)containing Atlantic salmon (30 samples) or Pacific salmon (16 samples) according to the labels. NoAtlantic salmon was detected in any of the Pacific salmon products. In contrast, Atlantic salmon wasdetected in 27 out of 30 Atlantic salmon samples. No Atlantic salmon could be detected in three cannedfully homogenised Polish products, although this was mentioned on the label. In conclusion, thedeveloped ddPCR assay can reliably and accurately quantify Atlantic salmon DNA in complex foodmatrices, even in extremely low concentrations and in the presence of closely related salmonid species.The method may be used to quickly detect fraud through verification of the percentage of Atlanticsalmon mentioned on the food product labels, with the proviso that the processing (especially freezing)and the ingredients mentioned on the label are taken into account." "The adulteration of food, lessons from the past, with reference to butter, margarine and fraud" "Hendrik Deelstra, D. Thorburn Burns, M.J. Walker" "The history of food adulteration and fraud and attempts at their control from the Middle Ages to date is traced for Belgium and for the UK with special reference to butter and margarine. The development of analytical procedures for the authentication of milk fat is outlined, from those based on the characterisation of fatty acids derived from milk fat in the nineteenth century to chromatographic methods in the next century and the recent rapid spectroscopic approaches. The importance of adequate surveillance programmes to reduce the incidence of food fraud is stressed." "Food Fraud and the Big City" "Peter Scholliers" "In a number of cities the people have used self-help, the Imperial Health Department stated in 1878 in a survey about organization of food monitoring in the German Reich. At the end of the 1870s, however, in several cities private associations were formed, the so-called associations against adulteration of food, which plugged this, gap, at least temporarily, by developing their own food controls. This chapter examines their origin and structure. It analyses their strategies for the regulation of food quality and link them to the food monitoring activities of the cities. After long and difficult negotiations in parliament, a unified food law was eventually enacted in 1879, which combined preventative and restrictive methods. But this gave only guidelines on the organization of food monitoring and it was not until World War I that food monitoring agencies and regular controls were established in all German states and municipalities." "Fingerprinting by mass spectrometry and infrared spectroscopy for food fraud detection" "Jet Van De Steene, Joeri Ruyssinck, Juan Fernandez Pierna, Christophe Walgraeve, Kristof Demeestere, Bram Miserez" "A newly generated, high quality DNA reference database for European fish species reveals substitution fraud of processed Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) and common sole (Solea solea) at different steps of the Belgian supply chain" "Seafood forms an important part of the human diet, but fish stocks are under pressure globally. This leads to fraudulent practices such as substitution of higher value species with cheaper alternatives. Substitution is more likely to occur in processed seafood products, as species can no longer be identified visually. Molecular techniques, such as DNA barcoding by means of mitochondrial markers, do allow for a proper identification of processed food by comparing a small DNA fragment to a reference database. However, public reference sequence databases contain sequences linked to misleading species names, thereby hampering accurate identification of the sequences.A reliable high quality database for COI and Cytb sequences (and rhodopsin for hybrids) of commercially important fish species in Europe has been created to ensure correct identification through DNA barcoding. Specimens from the Baltic sea, inland waters of North East Europe, the Northeast Pacific, the North Sea and, Northeast Atlantic Ocean, next to specimens from aquaculture, were collected. In total, 300 sequences (145 COI, 152 Cytb and 3 Rhodopsin genes) for 42 economically important fish species were generated using universal primers and Sanger sequencing.Other studies already showed that fish species are often substituted by cheaper species at the end of the food supply chain, more specifically, in restaurants, canteens and food services. Little is known about the prevalence of substitution in other parts of the supply chain, although a ‘knock-on-effect’ can be anticipated. To gain insight in the current situation of seafood trade in the Belgian fish supply chain, we performed interviews with local stakeholders and scientists, topped with information from reports and literature. We identified nine steps where morphologically unrecognisable fish are potentially traded: wholesale, import, retailers, fishmongers, processing, the fishermen’s market, catering, food services and export.To assess how substitution evolves throughout the Belgian supply chain, we collected morphologically unrecognisable food product samples of two commercially important species: Atlantic cod, Gadus morhua, and common sole, Solea solea, at different steps of the supply chain. DNA barcoding of the COI and Cytb gene was used to identify both G. morhua and S. solea samples. Additionally, a species specific qPCR assay was used to identify G. morhua. Of the 138 cod samples, only 3 were substituted, situated in catering (6 %), import (5 %) and fishmongers (3 %). Of the 45 sole samples, 7 samples were substituted, situated in wholesale (100 %), food- 23 -services (50 %), retailers (20 %) and catering (8 %). Substitutes for G. morhua were morphologically similar Gadidae species, such as G. chalcogrammus, Pollachius virens and Melanogrammus aeglefinus. The substitutes for S. solea were morphologically similar flatfish and Soleidae species, being S. senegalensis, Limanda aspera, Lepidopsetta polyxstra, Cynoglossus sp. and Microstomus kitt, with one exception being Pangasianodon hypophthalmus.In conclusion, the newly generated genetic reference database proved to be a useful tool for the identification of processed samples. Substitution in the Belgian food supply chain occurs for S. solea and to a lesser extent for G. morhua, not only in restaurants, but also in other parts of the supply chain. L. aspera seems to be an increasingly popular alternative to S. solea due to its lower price. More stringent control measures along the complete supply chain are required to ensure more transparency, safety and trust to allow Belgian consumers to trust their purchases." "Succursales partout en Belgique. Delhaize Le Lion: Belgium’s First Food Chain Store, its Architecture and Brand Identity, 1867-1940." "Nelleke Teughels" "This paper explores the extent to which Delhaize Le Lion, Belgium's first and largest food chain store, exploited the semiotic potential of architecture to construct a brand identity and to ensure visibility and recognition in a modern urban context. By using photographs and building plans as primary sources, the article analyzes the store front design in order to gain insight in the social values and cultural categories that are embedded therein and the clientele at which they were aimed." "Assessing crossmodal correspondences for food products: Implications for product packaging and brand naming." "Carmen ADAMS, Wim JANSSENS, Jan VANRIE" "“Succursales partout en Belgique.” Delhaize Le Lion : Belgium’s First Food Chain Store, its Architecture and Brand Identity, 1867-1940" "Nelleke Teughels"