Tag Archives: pistachios

Susanne Kuehne, Decernis
Food Fraud Quick Bites

The Not-So-Green Pistachio

By Susanne Kuehne
No Comments
Susanne Kuehne, Decernis
Pistachio, food fraud
Find records of fraud such as those discussed in this column and more in the Food Fraud Database. Image credit: Susanne Kuehne

Organic produce is a lucrative and growing market and an easy target for food fraud. Mislabeled organically certified pistachios were bringing in up to 80% more revenue than conventional nuts, resulting in a €6 million profit. European officials including Europol uncovered the illegal operation and made 14 arrests in Spain. Forensic analysis showed that the pistachios contained illegal pesticides.

Resource

  1. Europol. (December 18, 2020). “€6 million in illegal profit of fraudulent of fraudulent organic pistachio sales”. Press release. Europol.
Susanne Kuehne, Decernis
Food Fraud Quick Bites

A New Way Of Greenwashing

By Susanne Kuehne
No Comments
Susanne Kuehne, Decernis
Pistachio, food fraud
Find records of fraud such as those discussed in this column and more in the Food Fraud Database. Image credit: Susanne Kuehne

Turkish delight, baklava, halva, biscotti, mortadella, ice cream and many more delicious foods from around the world contain pistachios, which are pricey and therefore a popular target for food fraud. A recent article describes a method to detect spinach and green peas that often are used as a pistachio replacement due to their color and low price. The technique combines NIR (near infrared) spectroscopy and chemometric analysis and provides a method that is precise, fast and non-destructive.

Resource

  1. Genis, H.E., et al. (August 15, 2020). “Determination of green pea and spinach adulteration in pistachio nuts using NIR spectroscopy”. Science Direct. LWT.
Nuts, tree nuts

Q3 Hazard Beat: Nuts, Nut Products and Seeds

By Food Safety Tech Staff
No Comments
Nuts, tree nuts

The following infographic is a snapshot of the hazard trends in nuts, nut products and seeds from Q3 2019. The information has been pulled from the HorizonScan quarterly report, which summarizes recent global adulteration trends using data gathered from more than 120 reliable sources worldwide. For the past several weeks, Food Safety Tech has provided readers with hazard trends from various food categories included in this report. This week’s hazard snapshot concludes the series.

Nut hazards, HorizonScan
2019 Data from HorizonScan by FeraScience, Ltd.

View last week’s hazards in Milk & Dairy Products.