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Currently beer is booming, mainly due to the steady rise of craft breweries worldwide. Previous surveys for occurrence of mycotoxins in beer, were mainly focussed on industrial produced beer. The present survey reports the presence of mycotoxins in craft beer and how this compares to industrial produced beer. More than 1000 beers were collected from 47 countries, of which 60% were craft beers. A selection of 1000 samples were screened for the presence of aflatoxin B1, ochratoxin A (OTA), zearalenone (ZEN), fumonisins (FBs), T-2 and HT-2 toxins (T-2 and HT-2) and deoxynivalenol (DON) using a mycotoxin 6-plex immunoassay. For confirmatory analysis, a liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method was developed and applied. The 6-plex screening showed discrepancies with the LC-MS/MS analysis, possibly due to matrix interference and/or the presence of unknown mycotoxin metabolites. The major mycotoxins detected were DON and its plant metabolite deoxynivalenol-3-β-D-glucopyranoside (D3G). The 6-plex immunoassay reported the sum of DON and D3G (DON+D3G) contaminations ranging from 10 to 475 μg/L in 406 beers, of which 73% were craft beers. The popular craft beer style imperial stout, had the highest percentage of samples suspected positive (83%) with 29% of all imperial stout beers having DON+D3G contaminations above 100 μg/L. LC-MS/MS analysis showed that industrial pale lagers from Italy and Spain, predominantly contained FBs (3-69 μg/L). Besides FBs, African traditional beers also contained aflatoxins (0.1-1.2 μg/L). The presence of OTA, T-2, HT-2, ZEN, β-zearalenol, 3/15-acetyl-DON, nivalenol and the conjugated mycotoxin zearalenone 14-sulfate were confirmed in some beers. This study shows that in 27 craft beers, DON+D3G concentrations occurred above (or at) the Tolerable Daily Intake (TDI). Exceeding the TDI, may have a health impact. A better control of brewing malts for craft beer, should be put in place to circumvent this potential problem.

In the Netherlands, butter is produced from milk originating from three different production systems: conventional, organic, and grass-fed cows. The aim of the current study was to characterize these types of butters, and pinpoint distinct compositional differences. Retail conventional (n = 28), organic (n = 14), and grass (n = 12) full-fat butters were collected during the winter and summer seasons. Samples were analyzed for their fat content, free fatty acid (FFA) content, and triglyceride (TG) and fatty acid (FA) profiles. The fat content was significantly lower in conventional butters than in organic butters and the FFA content was significantly lower in conventional butters compared with grass butters. Also, organic butters differed significantly from their conventional counterparts with regard to their TG and FA profiles. The TG profiles of the organic and grass butters did not differ significantly. The FA profiles of grass butters were less distinct, since only a few FAs differed significantly from conventional (six FAs) and organic (eight FAs) butters.

We are pleased to introduce this Special Issue of Foods dedicated to 'Food Identity, Authenticity and Fraud: The Full Spectrum'.[...].We are pleased to introduce this Special Issue of Foods dedicated to 'Food Identity, Authenticity and Fraud: The Full Spectrum'.[...].

The origin of agricultural products is gaining in appreciation while often hard to determine for various reasons. Geographical origin may be resolved using a combination of chemical and physical analytical technologies. In the present case of Lily of the Valley (Convallaria majalis) rhizomes, we investigated an exploratory set of material from The Netherlands, three other European (EU) countries and China. We show that the geographical origin is correlated to patterns of stable isotope ratios (isotope fingerprints) and volatile organic carbon (VOC) compounds (chemical fingerprints). These fingerprints allowed clear distinction using exploratory and supervised statistics. Isotope ratio mass spectrometry of 12C/13C, 14N/15N and 16O/18O isotopes separated materials from Europe and China successfully. The VOC patterns measured by Proton Transfer Reaction Mass Spectrometry (PTR-MS) allowed distinction of three groups: material from The Netherlands, the other EU countries and China. This knowledge is expected to help developing a systematic and efficient analytical tool for authenticating the origin of flower bulbs.

This chapter provides some updated information on contemporary methods for hormone and β‐agonist analyses. It deals with the classical approaches for the effective detection and identification of exogenous hormones. The chapter examines specific problems related to control strategies for natural hormones. These include both the traditional and generally recognized natural hormones as well as a series of androgenic steroids that can be present in biological samples obtained from a series of species. The fact that natural background concentrations can be present strongly complicates the analyses. The application of mass spectrometry (MS) in combination with gas chromatography (GC) or liquid chromatography (LC) is considered the \"gold standard\" for analytical methods in residue analysis. The chapter presents an overview of the available bio‐based screening methods for the detection of hormones and ß‐agonists, focusing on estrogens, androgens, progestogens, corticosteroids, thyroids, ß2‐agonists, and growth hormones (GH).

Food fraud is as old as mankind but has advanced in the last decades. Fraud regarding the gross composition of food has progressed in the direction of the addition of unconventional adulterants. Furthermore, consumers are more and more interested in how and where their foods are produced and pay price premiums for organic foods, fair trade, animal welfare considering, and sustainable food products. Since these products are very similar to their conventional counterparts in terms of composition, they provide an additional challenge. The knowledge regarding occurrence, type of meat fraud, causes and damage caused to the sector is limited. There is a need for extensive identification of the vulnerabilities and criminogenic factors. These insights offer leads for detection and prevention. The article deals with a first step into the inventory of these vulnerabilities and factors affecting meat fraud, by assessing fraud risks related to products, companies and the meat supply chain.

Traceability of food implies the ability to trace and follow a food, feed, or a food-producing animal or substance intended to be, or expected to be, incorporated into a food or feed, through all stages of production, processing, and distribution. The importance of traceability has grown due to the consumers' increasing attention to food safety and food quality, and due to the increasing complexity of food supply chains. There are several types of food traceability depending on how traceability is obtained and on what information it concerns, i.e., conventional traceability, genetic traceability, and geographic traceability. Optical, electronic, and biological identification methods are used to identify and transfer the information. The aim of this chapter is to explain the basic characteristics of traceability systems in the supply chain and to list the developments in this area. An extensive overview of analytical systems is described that may verify documentary information on the basis of analyses, i.e., DNA-based methods, chemical verification methods, visual markers for the determination of food and feed, and sensory analysis. It is concluded that in future new traceability systems will be developed that combine logistical data with analytical data that are derived from more informative multiplex approaches, increasingly comprising also data from different types of analytical approaches. In this way, the consumer may be even better informed.