Protection against crisis situations

Since January 1, 2018, the German Industrial Bakeries Association has offered a monitoring program for oilseeds (Oilseed Monitoring, abbreviated OSM).

Background: why monitor oilseeds?

Together with cereals, oilseeds have been the most important ingredients in bread and bread rolls for decades; no baker’s product range can do without poppy and sesame seed bread rolls or pumpkin seed and multigrain bread. At the same time, however, there is hardly any knowledge about whether oilseeds may be contaminated with pollutants. This question can be absolutely vital for the survival of modern bakeries, since customers’ demands for food safety and transparency are increasing, and with them the pressure by the food retail and authorities. The question of possible contaminants becomes even more urgent when we remember at the same time the places from which oilseeds come to us. Because oilseeds originate mainly from countries abroad, in many cases from outside the EU: poppyseed from Turkey, linseed from Moldavia, sesame from Mozambique and pumpkin seeds from China, to mention just a few examples.

Up to now, bakers were compelled to rely on the supplier’s own assurances regarding the harmlessness of oilseeds. However, most of these explanations relate only to external factors, e.g. compliance with good agricultural practice or limit values, whereas scientific examinations of oilseeds are an exception, and as a rule take place only sporadically. Ultimately, no-one knows anything about the situation regarding oilseed contamination across the board.

The function and benefits of proper monitoring schemes

The idea of a monitoring program is relatively simple: participants send oilseed samples to a laboratory at regular intervals. These samples are tested for a fixed selection of parameters that have particular practical relevance. Participants receive the sample results quite normally, but also release the data for collection in an (anonymous) database. In the course of time, this creates an ever-bigger “wealth of data” that is available exclusively to participants in the monitoring scheme. This procedure simultaneously combines several advantages:

A leading edge in knowledge

The extensive analysis data enables conclusions to be drawn as to whether there is a pollutant problem with particular oilseeds. For example, were the lead contamination level in linseed to be regularly very high, this would indicate a structural problem in linseed cultivation. This information can be used to search for the causes and to eliminate them. Since monitoring also records the origin of the oilseed, local phenomena can also be identified, e.g. a particular soil pollution in a country of origin.

Reliable data

All the monitoring analyses are carried out by an accredited laboratory. Consequently, the examination methods and the analysis procedures used are always the same. Since this excludes fluctuations and discrepancies resulting from various commercial laboratories that use different methods, the collected data are completely comparable and valid.

Protection against crisis situations

The knowledge gained from monitoring protects the whole sector against crisis situations. For example, if a scandal report appears in the press about pesticides in oilseeds, there can be an immediate response: a glance at the monitoring data will show whether or not a problem really exists. This already functioned a few years ago with the milling sector’s European Cereal Monitoring scheme: with the help of monitoring data it was possible to defuse a planned scandal report about glyphosate in flour and bread.

A powerful symbol of safety and transparency

Of course, the monitoring exercise displays its true value when, as at present, the results show low levels of contamination or none at all, because the monitoring thereby demonstrates that bakery raw materials are clean. And of course, participation in the monitoring exercise is a strong indication of safety and transparency. Participants can use their certificate to distinguish and thus advertise themselves: vis-à-vis customers, business partners and on the Internet.

The sector becomes a player with a knowledge edge

Finally, by using the monitoring results, the German Industrial Bakeries Association can also appear in a quite different light as the sector’s spokesperson vis-à-vis governments and authorities, since after a short time the knowledge gained from the monitoring will become a distinguishing feature of our sector. No-one will then have available such in-depth knowledge about oilseed contamination as the OSM participants and the Association. That puts us on an equal footing as a dialogue partner for authorities and other sectors, e.g. when the question of new limit values for oilseeds arises. As a result, our sector becomes a principal role-player instead of a supplicant and potential victim.

Cost advantages

The pooled examination of a large volume of data allows participants in the monitoring to appear in the market like a single big supplier. This yields a considerable bundle discount for all the examinations in the context of the monitoring. Moreover, there will also be a discount on numerous other studies of oilseed contaminants. So anyone who wants samples to be examined beyond the standard parameters will obtain them at a considerably lower price.

Facts about the monitoring

A summary of the main facts about the OSM is given below:

The oilseeds that are studied

Standard monitoring allows the examination of sunflower seeds, linseed, pumpkin seeds, poppy, sesame and chia seeds. Analyses of other oilseeds are possible on request.

Standard examination parameters

The following parameters are examined in the OSM as a standard package: aflatoxins, ochratoxin, heavy metals (lead, cadmium and mercury), plant protection agents (standard screening with 200 substances plus glyphosate/AMPA [aminomethylphosphonic acid]), microbiology (DGHM [German Society for Hygiene and Microbiology] 11.1): total bacteria count, E. coli, mold fungi, presumed to be Bacillus cereus, and Salmonellae in 125 g.

Costs

The standard examination in the monitoring scheme costs EUR 478 plus VAT, and this price also remains unchanged for 2019.

Additional parameter

The following additional parameters can also be examined in the context of the monitoring exercise: morphine – opiate spectrum morphine/codeine (poppy) – opiate spectrum morphine/codeine/thebaine/oripavin/noscapine/papaverine (poppy), GVO [Genetically Modified Organisms] triple screening, allergens, MOSH/MOAH [Mineral Oil Saturated Hydrocarbons/Mineral Oil Aromatic Hydrocarbons], tropane alkaloids, extended spectrum of plant protection agents (e.g. for organic products), chlormequat/mepiquat, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH 4) and total inorganic bromide. Here again, additional parameters are possible on request.

Participation

Basically, any company can participate in the monitoring program. Companies outside of the German Industrial Bakeries Association are also welcome, and are already participating actively in the OSM. A precondition for participation is that the company sends in oilseed samples for the OSM, and has them examined.

Registration takes place by submitting a simple participation declaration. A participation certificate can be issued in return. To submit the samples themselves, there is an easily understood application form that can also be completed electronically. All the documents relating to the OSM are now also available in English.

The first year: Oilseed monitoring results in 2018

Detailed examination data and a comprehensively prepared report with an assessment of the results are received exclusively by OSM participants. A summary of the monitoring results is presented below:

Fifteen companies took part in the OSM in 2018, eleven of them from Germany and four from Austria. The companies are subdivided as follows: nine bakery businesses, five baking ingredients manufacturers and one merchandise trading company. 128 samples intended for food manufacture were examined. The number of examinations is now more than 140 and is increasing steadily.

The following can be highlighted for 2018:

+ Mycotoxin contamination was low. Overall microbial contamination was also at a low level.

+ The majority of the pesticide residues were non-critical and lay below the permissible maximum levels.

+ The occurrence of glyphosate in oilseeds was non-critical with regard to exhausting the maximum statutory levels, which were not exceeded even once. However, this herbicide was detected in 20% of the samples examined. This confirms the long-held suspicion that oilseeds must be regarded as a low-threshold source for the input of glyphosate into baked products. Due to the high level of media attention given to glyphosate, the OSM will also devote great attention to this topic in the future.

+ Cadmium was detected in the majority of the samples, although up to now there is no limit value for this in oilseeds. The cadmium contents in poppyseed and linseed, and also in sunflower seed, were at a clearly measurable background level. The levels for poppyseed depended on the geographic origin. Attention should therefore be paid to the trend in cadmium levels.

+ The frequency of detection of lead was higher in poppyseed than in the other oilseeds, but here again there was not a single transgression of limit values.

+ Morphine levels in poppyseed were in an average range. All the oilseeds examined were safe products within the meaning of the food legislation.

Future outlook

Despite the fact that the number of samples was still small, the OSM has already generated tangible results in its first year. Purchasing decisions can already be made differently now on this basis. These results will become increasingly reliable and meaningful with the passage of time. Currently, the top priority is to gain new members and to generate larger numbers of analyses for the OSM. Thus the value of the monitoring for all participants will increase exponentially

++ BakeTran launches On-Line Technical Training for Bakery Businesses

International baking consultancy, BakeTran, has launched an on-line breadmaking tutorial facility. The on-line tutorial facility is aimed at managers and technologists involved in the manufacture of bread who want to improve their technical breadmaking skills. According to BakeTran the tutorials are highly informative in a distinctive and practical way. Director Stan Cauvain says: “We believe that the ability of employees to integrate their new knowledge directly into the businesses in which they work makes our offering different from that of other providers.” The tutorials allow employees to study breadmaking technology in their own location. With access to world-class tutoring, individuals will develop their technical knowledge of breadmaking and significantly be able to tailor it to their company’s own products and processes. This brings practical benefits to the businesses they work in. See www.baketran.com/product-category/ tutorials +++ with time. There are also confident prospects that players outside of Germany and Austria will start to take an interest in the OSM. So there is no reason not to broaden and deepen the program because the oilseed market is international. Greater participation by the stages upstream of our sector is also desirable, i.e. companies who trade in and import oilseeds. The baking business could act as pioneers here and, with a good conscience, formulate corresponding requests to the upstream stages and implement them jointly – for the benefit of the OSM and the sector. +++

Contacts

Alexander Meyer-Kretschmer

Managing Director

Verband Deutscher Großbäckereien e.V.

In den Diken 33, 40472 Düsseldorf, Germany meyer-kretschmer@grossbaecker.de

Tel.: +49 (0) 211 653 086

Biotask AG

Schelztorstrasse 54 – 56, 73728 Esslingen, Germany peter.koehler@biotask.de

Tel.: +49 (0) 711 310 590-68

++ NutriScore is now in France, Belgium and Spain

In October 2017, the French government introduced a voluntary food nutrient value labelling called NutriScore. Underlying it is a five-step color scale from Green (A) to Red (E) which assesses the nutrient value elements per 100 g of packaged product that should be eaten daily or as infrequently as possible, depending on the assessment. The nutrient value profile is based on a defined calculation system that awards plus and minus points, unfavorable for too much energy, saturated fatty acids, total sugar and salt content, or favorable for fruit, vegetables, nuts, dietary fiber or proteins. The system, which was developed over many years, has also been in force in Belgium since August 2018 and in Spain since the start of the year. NutriScore is regarded in France as the most easily understood and simplest labelling system for consumers, and is accepted accordingly. +++

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