2.3.5 Fourier Transform InfraRed (FTIR) spectroscopy, Optical- Photothermal InfraRed (O-PTIR) spectroscopy and X-ray Fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF

Step 3 – Develop a fully-fledged supply chain for vegetables and dairy products. As explained for the previous submissions, the technology will be able to analyse the marketed products and determine if they are counterfeit and whether they do not originate from the correct geographical location. However, it is relevant to highlight that this technology cannot prevent the infiltration, rather it works as a mechanism to identify counterfeit products and their characteristics after the security breach occurs. The continuous use over time will create a dissuasive effect on criminals.

Step 4 – Use of low quality and diluted materials. The technology is capable of recognizing the geographical origin of food products as well as their composition, including the presence of toxic ingredients and if they have been diluted.

Step 5 – Building a parallel market for catering food supplies targeting small shops. The same considerations explained in step 3 apply to this step.

Step 6 – Distortion of competition.

Scenario 3: E-commerce: criminal infiltration of online supermarket chains for home delivery of fake food Step 1 – Control of legitimate e-operators.

Step 2 – Selling fraudulent food as genuine through the controlled e-supermarkets.

Step 3 – Expansion of e-commerce market through the creation of a Super E-food app. The technology will be able to analyse the marketed products and determine if they are fraudulent, of low quality and whether they do not originate from the correct geographical location.

Step 4 – Creation of dedicated social network groups/ pages to sell fraudulent products to final customers.

2.3.5 Fourier Transform InfraRed (FTIR) spectroscopy, Optical- Photothermal InfraRed (O-PTIR) spectroscopy and X-ray Fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF)

Technology submission 11

A different submission in this area proposes several solutions that enable screening for abnormalities in a given product and identify its geographical origin.

These solutions use several techniques, such as:

1) The Fourier Transform InfraRed (FTIR) spectroscopy, which measures the fundamental vibrations of covalently bound atoms in molecules and identifies the unique spectrum of a compound and may be

treated as a molecular fingerprint. This technique may be also applied to authenticate products and search for adulterants in food.

2) The O-PTIR (Optical-Photothermal InfraRed) spectroscopy, which works as a non-contact, far-field reflection mode and delivers high quality, spatially resolved FTIR transmission-like spectra below the diffraction limit of infrared wavelengths.

Both FTIR and O-PTIR can be applied to verify the provenance and authenticity of the food and to detect dilution or illegal additives. FTIR spectra may be shared among the actors of the supply chain from the manufacturer, through distributors, to the final user in order to check the preservation of quality. By using semi-portable devices, it is possible to set up intermediate checkpoints to avoid the insertion of illicit products within the supply chain.

3) X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectroscopy, which is a well-known technique to analyse the multielemental content of different kinds of samples in a non-destructive manner.

X-ray fluorescence photons are collected when an ion/synchrotron radiation beam excites the inner shell electrons in the target atoms (PIXE: Proton Induced X-ray Emission; SRIXE: Synchrotron Induced X-ray Emission). As a result of the ejection of inner electrons, X-rays are emitted to fill created vacancies. The energies of X-rays are characteristic of the elements from which they originate, and their number is proportional to the mass of the corresponding element in the sample being analysed. XRF spectroscopy has a huge range of applications including chemistry, life science, medicine, earth science, cultural heritage, environmental science, material science and forensics. XRF is the only technique that can provide definitive data to quantify elements like iron, zinc, phosphorus and other trace elements.

The food materials may be screened for their geographic location by trace element profiling and concentration variations. Most importantly, they may be checked for potentially poisonous materials such as lead, nickel or arsenic.

Submission received from Singapore Synchrotron Light Source

As seen during previous chapters of this report, these techniques have a great potential of verifying if a breach of the food supply chain has happened by analysing the composition of the suspicious food itself. FTIR, O-PTIR and XRF are accurate analytical techniques which are well-established and only need small sample handling. Additionally, O-PTIR eliminates one of the longstanding limitations for IR microscopy, namely the inability to work on thick samples.

FTIR and O-PTIR spectra are searchable and interpretable in both commercial and institutional IR databases without mathematical modelling. This fact allows for very quick and independent analysis.

XRF and FTIR methods can be applied with portable or semi-portable devices, hence the increase of their usage in field analysis.

On the other hand, the use of these techniques usually necessitates highly qualified staff and some of the techniques have limitations in detection. In the case of FTIR, for instance, the detection limit is around 1% and if mixture is multicomponent, the separation of all ingredients can be complicated and usually requires the use of multivariate statistical methods. As was mentioned earlier, FTIR spectroscopy measures the fundamental vibrations of covalently bound atoms in molecules, hence each chemical compound has its own unique spectrum that may be treated as the molecular fingerprint.

In the case of XRF, the emitted X-rays may be attenuated or enhanced by material surrounding the sample of interest (matrix effects) and there is also a clear inability to measure radiation from all elements.

For what concerns the application to the risk scenarios, the considerations are similar to those that were presented for other submissions in this area. These technologies can be used to identify repackaging operations and substi-

tution of original products with counterfeit ones, as well as the mislabelling of packages to promote false claims related to the origin, process or composition of the product. They can be used as a tool to examine evidence and to trace back the origin of the product, as well as to identify if the product has been diluted or if there are adulterants in its composition.

In particular, for what concerns risk scenario 1, elemental analysis is capable of unequivocally identifying the geographical origin of the products as well as its components. Consequently, these technologies may play a role in uncovering the following steps of the criminal plan:

 Control of the supply chain by using original packaging of the businesses controlled by the criminal group to market substandard and fraudulent products.

 Distribution of the falsified goods via the criminal group comprehensive and well- structured network, which includes wholesalers and supermarkets controlled by their frontmen.

 Use of low-quality milk or dairy products.

The same considerations explained in the previous submissions also apply here. One of several of the technology options can be selected to perform the analysis, depending on the type of material that is being processed or the type of issues that are being identified. For example, FTIR and O-PTIR technologies may be applied to verify the provenance and authenticity of the food and to detect dilution or illegal additives. FTIR spectra may be shared among the actors of the supply chain from the manufacturer, through distributors, to the final user in order to check the preservation of quality; whereas XRF is the only technique that can provide definitive data to quantify the elements like iron, zinc, phosphorus and other trace elements. The food materials may be screened for their geographic location by trace element profiling and concentration variations. Most importantly, they may be checked for potentially poisonous materials such as lead, nickel or arsenic.

In the case of risk scenario 2, the technology may reduce the following steps:

 Control of the anti-counterfeiting solutions to market fraudulent products using original packaging bearing authentication technology.

 Procurement of law-quality materials from areas with high levels of pollution, marketing vegetables grown using illicit pesticides as well as low-quality and diluted tomato concentrate.

 Develop a fully-fledged supply chain for vegetables and dairy products.

 Building a parallel market for catering food supplies targeting small shops.

If suspicions of criminal operations arose, the technology can be used to confirm what the criminal group was marketing using the original packaging or what elements do not correspond to the original composition of the product, and this element can be brought in court as evidence.

The considerations already made in the case of risk scenario 1 are also valid for mitigating these steps, since the technology is capable of recognizing the geographical origin of food products as well as their composition, including the presence of toxic ingredients and if they have been diluted.

For what concerns risk scenario 3, the technology can limit the following step:

 Selling fraudulent food as genuine via the e-supermarkets controlled by the criminal group.

The same considerations presented for the previous risk scenarios also apply in this scenario in relation to analysis that can be performed in the case of incidents or following investigations to determine the nature of products marketed by the criminal group.

Summary table for submission 11: possible application to limit risks highlighted by the scenarios

Scenario

Scenario 1: Infiltration of the dairy supply chain Step 1 – Control of the distribution market by owning or controlling legitimate operators.

Applicability of the solution

Step 2 – Control of the supply chain using the technology owned by the controlled legitimate operators.

Step 3 – Copying local producers’ packaging design and subsequent infiltration of these products into the legitimate supply chain.

Step 4 – Procurement of low-level milk or dairy products, their packaging with falsified labels imitating the design of legitimate and well-known local producers, and their insertion into the supply chain. FTIR, O-PTIR and XRF analyses can provide accurate information about the composition of the products and determine if they are counterfeit, of low quality and whether they do not originate from the correct geographical location.

As previously described, the technology options can identify the composition and origin of food, although they cannot prevent infiltration. The solutions can only mitigate the risk if their continuous use over time creates a dissuasive effect on criminals, but they can be used to unequivocally detect the adulteration of a product or the fraudulent behaviour of criminals involved in food fraud.

Adulterations and the presence of possible toxic/ poisonous substances can be revealed by the technology.

Step 5 – Distribution of the falsified goods via the criminal group comprehensive and well- structured network, which includes wholesalers and supermarkets controlled by their frontmen. The considerations explained in step 3 apply to this step.

Scenario 2: Parallel market for catering supplies Step 1 – Control over legitimate businesses.

Step 2 – Control of the anti-counterfeiting solutions used by the infiltrated businesses

Step 3 – Develop a fully-fledged supply chain for vegetables and dairy products In case of proven or suspected criminal operations, the technology can be used to confirm what the criminal group was marketing using the original packaging, and the anti-counterfeiting features and this element can be brought in court as evidence.

As explained in the analysis of risk scenario 1, the technology options can analyse the marketed products and determine if they are fraudulent, of low quality and whether they do not originate from the correct geographical location. However, they cannot prevent the infiltration, unless their continuous use over time creates a dissuasive effect on criminals.

Step 4 – Use of low quality and diluted materials. The technology is capable of recognizing the geographical origin of food products as well as its composition, including the presence of toxic ingredients and if it has been diluted.