Project Number: 006942

Project Acronym: TRACE

Project Title: Tracing Food Commodities in Europe

Instrument: Integrated Project

Thematic Priority: Food Quality and Safety

Publishable Final Activity Report

Period covered: from 01/01/2005 to 31/12/2009 Date of Preparation: 31/08/2010

Start of Project: 01/01/2005 Duration: 60 months

Project Co-ordinator name: Paul Brereton Revision: 1.0

Project Co-ordinator organisation name:

The Food and Environment Research Agency

Publishable Final Activity Report 01/01/2005-31/12/2009

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Abstract

Over 50 organisations from 18 countries have worked on the 5 year integrated project “TRACE” that aimed to develop improved methods and systems for tracing and verifying food.

A universal traceability language, TraceCore XML, has been developed to improve chain traceability through improved data interchange and is being assimilated into an industry standard. A complete Good Traceability Practice guide has been produced in Wiki format and tested in industry hosted demonstration activities in four food sectors: mineral water, honey, chicken and fish. In addition, a food traceability ontology and process mapping procedure have been developed. An interactive animation website ‘Tracing your food’ has been produced providing stakeholder friendly information on the developed traceability processes and on food traceability in general.

An ambitious experiment to study the relationship between chemical ‘tracers’ in food with those in the local environment has been carried out involving thousands of samples of food, water and geological samples taken from 21 characteristic sampling sites across Europe. Improved analytical procedures for measuring stable isotopes and trace elements in food and geological samples have been developed together with appropriate quality assurance measures. Following comprehensive statistical assessment, data from these methods have been used to develop novel mathematical models (Specification Prediction Models - SPMs) for predicting origin of foods. Sector-specific SPMs have been produced for mineral water, olive oil and cereal together with a generic strontium ratio (87Sr/86Sr) prediction model for Europe. Specific embedded models have been used in a Google interface in order to provide visualised stable isotope maps (isoscapes) for food commodities that can be easily interpreted by stakeholders.

More generic spectroscopic fingerprinting and statistical techniques have also been developed for food assurance. Successful industry applications have been applied and tested in the olive oil, brewing and meat sectors and an industry-focused booklet produced.

Improved methods for detecting species and variety of plant and animal products have been developed and validated by collaborative trials. A molecular biological database that contains information on methods, sequences and procedures for using molecular biological techniques to authenticate food has been produced and released to the public.

A comprehensive European consumer study has been carried out to understand consumer attitudes and behaviour with respect to food traceability, origin and authenticity.

Publishable Final Activity Report 01/01/2005-31/12/2009

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Extensive dissemination and technology transfer activities have taken place: 60 peer reviewed publications to date, several industry and consumer focused booklets, newsletters, videos, DVDs, websites, a comprehensive international training programme, workshops and dedicated international conferences, have resulted in TRACE being the focus for transnational research on food traceability and authenticity.

Publishable Final Activity Report 01/01/2005-31/12/2009

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Contents

Abstract .......................................................................................................... i Contents ....................................................................................................... iii Project execution ........................................................................................... 1

INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................. 1

TRACE RESULTS ........................................................................................................... 3

IMPROVEMENTS IN CHAIN TRACEABILITY .................................................................. 3

VERIFYING GEOGRAPHICAL ORIGIN ........................................................................... 7

DEVELOPMENT OF SPECIFICATION PREDICTION MODELS .......................................... 9

THE USE OF FINGERPRINTING TO VERIFY FOOD......................................................... 14

MOLECULAR BIOLOGICAL METHODS FOR VERIFYING ORIGIN ................................... 16

CONSUMER STUDIES ................................................................................................ 19

TRAINING AND DISSEMINATION ACTIVITIES ............................................................ 24

IMPACT ON INDUSTRY .............................................................................................. 26

CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................... 27

REFERENCES ................................................................................................................ 28

List of Participants ...................................................................................... 32

Dissemination and use ................................................................................. 33

WEBSITES .................................................................................................................... 34

MEETINGS .................................................................................................................... 35

WORKSHOPS ................................................................................................................ 37

OTHER ......................................................................................................................... 42

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Project execution

Introduction TRACE (www.trace.eu.org) is a FP6 Integrated Project that was commissioned with the aim of developing methods and systems that would improve consumer confidence in the authenticity of European food.

It aimed to achieve this through:

1) Improvements in supply chain traceability

2) Improvements in methods and processes for verifying “origin”

In order to address these different but related aspects, the following were identified as major issues, which were impeding progress, that TRACE would address.

Issues concerning chain traceability:

♦ Lack of harmonised format for data interchange

♦ Lack of industry investment in traceability due to the perception of a poor cost to benefit ratio.

♦ Technical limitations preventing good chain traceability practice

♦ Lack of a standardised ontology for traceability

♦ Lack of integration of other useful data into traceability systems

Issues concerning verification processes:

♦ Lack of proficiency and quality assurance for some key analytical methods (stable isotope ratios) used in verifying provenance

♦ Lack of understanding about the potential application and implementation of stable isotopic approaches for verifying geographical origin

♦ Lack of scientific knowledge about how stable isotopes interact with their immediate environment

♦ Development of improved methods for spectroscopic methods for verifying types of “origin”.

♦ Improved molecular biological methods for verifying species/varietal origin

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Consumer views, perceptions and behaviour relating to:

♦ Traceability

♦ Origin

♦ Authenticity

It is against the above background that the following Specific Objectives for the TRACE project were agreed:

SO1. to specify, develop and test a generic information infrastructure to ensure complete traceability along entire fork to farm food chains,

SO2. to correlate geochemical morphology and bioclimatic factors with that of locally grown food,

SO3. to develop rapid, robust, accurate and cost-effective methods for determining species/varietal origin of food,

SO4. to develop rapid, cost-effective “fingerprint” methods that can characterise food products,

SO5. to develop novel specifications from multivariate analytical data, which can be used for traceability and control purposes to characterise food products,

SO6. to develop an information platform mapping verifiable data to analytical methods specifications and thresholds,

SO7. to develop and exploit a communication and dissemination system that will be the focus of European information on food authenticity and traceability,

SO8. to assess European consumer perceptions, attitudes, and expectations regarding the ability-to-trace food products and food production systems, attitudes to Designated Origin products, food authenticity and food fraud,

SO9. to develop 'Good Traceability Practice' guides for the food industry and,

SO10. to draft and demonstrate standardised XML 'request-response' schemes.

In addition to the above, an implicit objective was to ensure technology transfer to stakeholders through a customised training programme and extensive dissemination activities.

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TRACE results Improvements in chain traceability One of the key impediments to enhanced chain traceability is the inability of different systems to exchange information with each other. A non-proprietary language, TraceCore XML (see Figure 1), has been produced in collaboration with industry and disseminated on the web (www.tracefood.org). The XML language permits standardised means of data exchange between different actors in the food traceability chain. The system was successfully tested in mineral water, honey and chicken chains.

Figure 1: Summary scheme for TraceCore XML

The XML scheme has been made into an abstract model and the model mapped to EPCIS to ensure further uptake by industry.

The next step in improving chain traceability was to develop, test and make accessible, a full traceability structure that addressed historical impediments to implementing chain traceability. As a result, Good Traceability Practice (GTP) guides were developed, implemented and assessed throughout the project, not least by several industry hosted demonstration projects.

The GTP guides require that traceability units be uniquely numbered and adhere to GS1 numbering protocols. They are available in Wiki format at http://www.tracefood.org/index.php/GTP (see Figure 2).

SO10: Draft and demonstrate standardised XML “request-response” schemes. This Objective has been met in full.

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Figure 2: Screenshot of TraceFood GTP Wiki

The traceability principles and protocols have been tested within the project by several industry sectors and are already being implemented in the seafish sector.

In conjunction with the re-engineering carried out under SO6, ‘ad-hoc’ standards (see Figure 3) have been developed and each of these specifically links the analytical methods to industry determined parameters. 1-3

SO9: Develop “Good Traceability Practice” guides for the food industry.

This Objective has been met in full.

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Figure 3: Extract from the ‘ad-hoc’ standard for honey

Further information and future developments regarding sector-specific information exchange, ontology and the mapping verifiable data to analytical methods, specifications and thresholds can be found at:

http://www.tracefood.org/index.php/GTP:Chicken_Ad_hoc_standard

A standard procedure for analysing material flow, information flow and loss in food supply chains has been produced and tested in TRACE.4

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Figure 4: An example of the methods referred to in the mapping verifiable data to analytical methods specifications and thresholds

Taken from: http://www.tracefood.org/index.php/Tools:Standardized_Analytical_Methods#Method_number_C1.

All of the above developments were tested and implemented by industry, primarily in three formal Demonstration activities in the mineral water, honey and chicken sectors, but also in the seafish sector through interaction with a Norwegian national project, namely:

SO6: Develop an information platform mapping verifiable date to analytical methods specification and thresholds.

This Objective has been met in full.

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♦ Mineral water sector by Insalus mineral water company, Spain (2006)

♦ Honey sector by Famille Michaud Apiculteur, France, (2008)

♦ Chicken sector by Dafa Chia Tai Co. Ltd, China

♦ Fish sector by Hermes AS, Norway

Verifying geographical origin The experimental approach involved taking over 10,000 samples comprising food, soil and water samples obtained from 21 sampling sites around Europe. Approximately 500,000 results were generated using methods that have been subject to continual quality assurance throughout the lifetime of the project.

Statistical analysis was undertaken to examine data quality and trends prior to modelling where significant correlation between tracers in food and its local environment were found. Traditional database approaches were also undertaken. Predictive specifications were produced from models, assessed and resulting isoscapes embedded in Google visualisation tools for interpretation and dissemination purposes (see Figure 5).

Method Development

Predictive Modelling

Statistical Analysis

Geographical Origin

Determination

Sampling

Analysis

Database Approaches

Quality Assurance

Figure 5: Experimental approach used in TRACE to verify geographical origin

SO1: To specify, develop and test a generic information infrastructure to ensure complete traceability along entire fork to farm food chains.

This Objective has been met in full

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Development of light isotopic methods The use of stable isotope analysis of H and O in water and C and N in food components for food authenticity control has been in common practice since before the TRACE project started. However, the analysis of H and O isotopes in organic compounds and S isotopes in sulfates and organic materials was far from common-place and has evolved significantly during the TRACE project. TRACE has calibrated Inter-laboratory Comparison Materials and developed and validated methods for sample preparation and analysis of HCO isotopes in olive oil, HCNS isotopes in proteins, CNOS isotopes in cereals, and S isotopes in water sulfates and soil extracts. Data for the relevant isotopes in mineral and surface waters, soil extracts and food commodities (honey, cereals, olive oils, lamb, beef, chicken) from 21 regions across Europe have been measured and submitted to the TRACE data bank. The results have been evaluated using statistical methods such as Linear Discriminant Analysis and Principal Component Analysis and published in international peer reviewed journals. 5-8

The methods developed were also applied to food commodities from China (chicken) and Argentina (wine, olive oil, cereals, beef) and results from these international studies will be used for comparison with European products and additional publications. The methods developed and tested are now being applied in national control laboratories and commercial laboratories for improved control of food geographical origin and authenticity. These methods have been used to supply reliable data in order to develop prediction models and related Google Earth applications (see next section).

Trace element and Strontium Isotope methods Similarly, methods for trace element (TE) analysis and Sr isotope measurements were developed and applied to several matrices. These included:

• Soil (bulk and extract) • Surface water • Olive oil • Honey • Wheat • Lamb • Chicken • Beef

A Stakeholder Booklet was produced to summarise the value of these results and is available from the TRACE website (http://www.trace.eu.org/brochures/index.php).

The measurement of Sr isotopic ratios as a geochemical tool for correlating food with geology was shown to be successful in mineral water, but only to a limited extent in wheat. At this level the Sr isotope signature for geologically distinct areas overlap to a

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large extent. Due to the low Sr concentration in olive oil large errors were obtained for measured Sr isotope ratios, which again resulted in overlap for geologically distinct areas. In meat such as lamb, chicken and beef, Sr isotope ratios could not be used for correlation to local geochemical geomorphology, due to the overriding contribution of external Sr to the total Sr budget.

It was shown that bio-available TE in soil cannot be directly linked to underlying geology, but additional local factors have to be considered as well. Therefore the TE available for incorporation in the food chain is not representative of the underlying geology.

It was shown that the relationship between geology and locally grown food is more complex than was previously expected. Furthermore a lot of additional knowledge and understanding on chemical transfer during production of food commodities and in general on the chemical composition of food commodities was gained during the project.

Development of Specification Prediction Models Where significant correlations have been found, TRACE has taken the work further than anticipated and produced working models that can predict the specifications of tracers for a commodity arising from a given location. 9-11

To develop a SPM – or food specification map – for a parameter in a given commodity, three requirements have to be met; I) the parameter has to be related to some known ancillary variable which is reflected through the local climate or geology, II) the ancillary climatic or geological variable has to be available for the region considered, and III) the final model should allow the determination of the local model uncertainty to set the specifications. Development of a SPM therefore begins with finding a relationship between the composition of the commodity and some local climatic or geological parameter such as the annual temperature or rock type. Once such a relationship can be established, a SPM can be developed using the spatial information about the predicting variable.

Often, a SPM based on one single parameter is not so discriminative because certain specifications might apply to large areas. To increase the spatial discrimination power of the specification approach, it is advantageous to increase the number of parameters in the SPM. This is analogous to DNA fingerprinting in which multiple markers are considered. In the SPM approach, the collective specification area, i.e. the area in which the combination of a certain range of values falls within the combination of predicted ranges, is always smaller than the individual specification areas (Figure 6). This requires, however, that only independent parameters should be added to the specification model.

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Figure 6: Schematic representation of the food specification mapping approach using multiple parameters to further delineate the area of possible origin (in

green)

The specification maps are based on a relationship between the isotopic composition of the food commodities and different geo-climatic factors (see Table 2). For δ2H and δ18O in mineral water and δ18O in olive oil, existing isotope models for δ2H and δ18O in precipitation have been used. In addition a generic 87Sr/86Sr prediction model for Europe based on IGME5000 and the Quaternary layer has been developed (see Figure 7).

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Table 2: Overview of the characteristics of the different food specification maps

Commodity Predicting variable R2 of regression

Type of model

False positive

rate Mineral water δ2H δ2H in precipitation 0.68 Continuous 6.5 % δ18O δ18O in precipitation 0.60 Continuous 7.4 % 87Sr/86Sr Geology (rock type and age) - Categorical:

7 classes 5.0 %*

Olive oil δ18O δ18O in precipitation 0.68 Continuous 1.6 % δ13C Amount of precipitation July

- August 0.64 Continuous 12.7 %

Cereal grain δ13C protein Drought index 0.53 Continuous ND Na concentration**

Distance to coast and wind speed

- Categorical: 2 classes

10 %*

87Sr/86Sr 87Sr/86Sr in mineral water - Categorical: 7 classes

5.0%

Honey δ2H protein ** Temp. and amount of

precipitation during growing season

- Categorical: 2 classes

5.0 %*

87Sr/86Sr 87Sr/86Sr in mineral water - Categorical: 7 classes

2.9 %

* False positive rate operationally defined. ** The models for Na concentration in cereal and δ2H in honey are in a preliminary

stage The quality of the models, expressed as the false positive rate, is generally good (5 – 10%). On the other hand, the correlation between the food composition and different geo-climatic factors is not very strong (R2 between 0.53 and 0.68), leading to wide specifications. As a result, the specifications that occur in most areas in Europe are indistinguishable from each other (medium to low spatial discrimination power). However, the ‘strength’ R2 values depend on the number of observations. So although the R2 registers between 0.53 and 0.68, for large population they have significant statistical value.

The food mapping approach for the verification of the origin of locally produced food commodities seems promising, but application of the maps developed in the TRACE project is still rather limited. This is due to:

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1) The prevailing overlap between the specifications across Europe (medium to low spatial discrimination power).

2) The limited number of food specification maps available for the different commodities (1 – 3).

3) Interrelation between the model parameters (δ2H and δ18O in mineral water, δ13C and δ18O in olive oil).

Figure 7: Spatial analyses of geology for 87Sr/86Sr

Future work should therefore focus on improving the knowledge of the relationships between geo-climatic factors and the isotopic composition of food. In this way the size of the specification areas can be reduced, leading to a better spatial discrimination power of the food maps. Moreover, the use of additional isotope systems such as lithium, boron and iron could further improve the specificity by providing additional map layers.

At the moment, the food specification maps developed for mineral water, olive oil, wheat and honey can at best be used to indicate where (a combination of) certain high or low isotope values may be expected. As such, the specification maps can be used as a cost-effective early warning system to screen for atypical isotope values in these food commodities. However, more data would be needed to validate the current food specification maps further and to develop specification maps for other food commodities.

The developed models for mineral water, olive oil and cereal have been embedded into a Google interface and are available for users to interrogate. They provide a visual interpretation of geographical areas having the same specification and allow users to 1) access a specification for a designated geographical location or 2) provide a visual interpretation of geographical areas having the same specification (see Figure 8).

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Figure 8: TRACETOOL, an interaction model for online interpretation and dissemination of SPMs (mineral water and olive oil).

http://update.maritech.is/tracetool/publish.htm

SO2. To correlate geochemical morphology and bioclimatic factors with that of locally grown food,

This Objective has been met in full.

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The use of fingerprinting to verify food

TRACE achieved this goal with a high degree of success using spectroscopic and profiling techniques for a range of example food commodities i.e. olive oil, honey, chicken, beer and wet-cured beef. The approach taken was to deal with a number of representative authenticity issues as follows:

• Confirmation of claimed geographic origin of extra virgin olive oils • Confirmation of claimed geographic origin of honey • Confirmation of brand identity of a commercially-processed product

(beer) • Confirmation of age claims for wet-cured beef

In all of these cases, a range of analytical techniques (molecular spectroscopy, separation techniques, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) and mass spectrometric techniques) were applied and, as may be expected, not all techniques produced the best results for all products tested. However, the success rate for classification for all of the problems studied was high – in many cases up to 100% correct classification. In cases when model performance was lower than 100%, it is suggested that an extended sample collection and or improved multivariate modelling techniques may be expected to improve model prediction accuracy.

Of particular importance to the general problem of confirming food provenance or origin claims, was the success that TRACE scientists had in highlighting a method for delivering confirmation or rejection results as a single number which was either above or below a critical threshold established for each model. This approach has made interpretation of any given prediction result simple e.g. above or below a defined number indicates membership or non-membership of a particular class of commodity. This progress was made possible through collaboration of chemometric experts within the project.

SO4. To develop rapid, cost-effective “fingerprint” methods that can characterise food products.

This Objective has been met in full.

SO5. To develop novel specifications from multivariate analytical data, which can be used for traceability and control purposes to characterise food products,

This Objective has been met in full.

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A significant difficulty still exists regarding attaching a probability estimate to the prediction of an individual sample. For example, if the classification model suggests that a particular test sample which claims to be Corsican honey actually does belong to the model for Corsican honey, what is the probability that this classification is correct? Some developments in solving this problem have been made recently (http://www.trace.eu.org/je/belgium/lectures/L4-10.php) but it remains an area in which research is vitally needed.

One of the goals of this work was to use profiling techniques such as NMR and Liquid Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry/Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) to identify specific compounds in foods which were responsible for any classification observed and then to use this information to aid the profiling techniques in selecting e.g. particular wavelengths on which to focus their efforts in model building. This proved difficult to do in practice. Among reasons for this were (a) time constraints arising from the late identification of such analytes and the time-tabling of work on all of the foodstuffs and (b) difficulty in translating these analyte identifications into real information that could be used in the fingerprint modelling process. In most cases, the actual spectra (NIR, MIR, Raman) of identified analytes were not available or collectable; in any event, it is well documented that the spectra of pure materials do not match those of the sample material when present as part of a biological matrix. This remains a topic in which some research may be warranted but it is not altogether obvious that the outcome would improve the development of accurate and robust multivariate fingerprint models over and above the level of accuracy that has been achieved using current targeted chemometric approaches. 12-31

An industry-focused booklet was produced to summarise the the use of fingerprinting techniques and is available from http://www.trace.eu.org/brochures/booklet.php

Figure 9: Food Analysis by Fingerprinting Techniques Booklet

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Molecular biological methods for verifying origin The major goal of this part of TRACE was to develop rapid, robust, accurate and cost-effective methods for determining species/varietal origin of food based on the inherent material present in plant and animal species. In achieving this goal, eight peer reviewed publications have been produced, and a molecular biology database was established.

Molecular biology database The database, one of the key achievements of the project, contains the whole set of information about DNA-based detection methods developed within the frame of the TRACE project (see Figure 10). Moreover all the information on DNA-based methods from a previous European Commission funded project MOLSPEC-ID has also been incorporated resulting in a comprehensive database providing methods for control purposes, as well as for quality assurance, as part of an identity preservation system established in food processing companies. The database is freely available at http://www.trace.eu.org/mbdb/.

Figure 10: Picture of Molecular Biology Database.

In total 51 DNA-based detection methods are included in the database. For each individual method, the internationally agreed set of validation characteristics is described. Parameters such as the Limit of detection (LOD), specificity and sensitivity have been investigated intensively and determined for each individual method. This information is the basis for the analysts and stakeholders to evaluate if the method selected is ‘fit-for-their-purpose’.

In addition, three of the methods included in the database have been validated thoroughly through international collaborative studies providing the most robust validation characteristics.

Further activities in this area focused on the application of new approaches using DNA as the target and on the improvement of routine analysis by running samples in parallel.

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Development of new approaches for the identification of cereals In order to characterise the cereals commodity, new approaches have been explored and systems established for the traceability, differentiation and identification of cereal species. One of the techniques explored in more detail was the padlock ligation detection reaction. This included the development of species-specific padlock ligation probes (PLP) and has been established by adding systems for rye (rye_2 and rye_3) and the Q-locus specific for the D-genome of wheat. 32,33 In order to investigate whether the system offers a platform for multiplexing for detection of food ingredients, an alternative system has been tested: the BioTrove Open Array system. Even without optimised conditions the applicability of the system for multi-experiments is well established.

In conclusion it can be stated that this initial series of experiments show that the Open Array System has the potential to form a robust platform for the detection of unintended commingling of different cereal species with specific specialty crops. The system is primarily designed to detect several targets in a single assay and therefore it supports routine analysis by saving time and costs. In particular the padlock ligation detection reaction system is very suitable for high through-put applications.

Beef The International Society for Animal Genetics (ISAG) has recommended a set of microsatellite loci for routine use in bovine parentage testing and identification. Traceability of breed origin was accomplished on the basis of genotypes from 16 microsatellite markers and its statistical analysis. Allele frequencies from a reference dataset were used to calculate the likelihood of findings within each breed. Subsequently the assignment score for a given breed is the likelihood for this breed divided by the sum of the likelihoods for all breeds. According to the Bayesian theorem, the likelihoods can be corrected for the prior likelihood on the basis of the respective breed population sizes. Samples are assigned to the breed with the highest assignment score. Optionally, assignments with the highest score <90% are discarded.

Only certain breeds are allowed for the PGI beef products ‘Vitellone dell’Appennino Centrale’ and ‘Boeuf de Chalosse’. For the authentication of these breeds it was found that based on 16 microsatellites the selectivity and sensitivity were 95% or better. For the test panel ‘Vitellone dell’Appennino Centrale’ selectivity and sensitivity was even absolute (100%). By selection of the highest scores, selectivity can be increased up to 100% at the expense of the sensitivity. With 25% of the samples collected throughout the project period from various regions of the EU being rejected (sensitivity 75%) ‘Boeuf de Chalosse’ specificity was 96%.

The microsatellite approach for the authentication of the ‘Vitellone del'Appennino Centrale’ PGI beef product was tested in a collaborative study including six participating laboratories. Results indicate an almost complete reproducibility of the

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genotyping. All labs successfully tested 9 samples of blind breeds allowed and not allowed in the PGI beef product demonstrating the validity of the assay.34,35

Honey In order to develop a DNA-based method to allocate honey samples to a certain region, pollen has been chosen as the target of choice. It was anticipated that honey samples from different regions contain different compositions of pollen that were specific for each region. Using this composition as a marker it should be in principle possible to allocate unknown honey samples to a certain region.

Therefore 16 different real-time PCR methods were developed.36 DNA was extracted and purified from honey samples from four target countries: Corsica, Spain (Galicia), Germany and England. The countries were chosen to have different flora thereby providing unique plant profiles for the honeys from each country.

Using the species specific real-time PCR systems to analyse the DNA extracts of all the honey samples it was shown that there were geographical differences in the range of plant species found in honeys from Corsica, Galicia, Germany and England. In particular it was found that:

• rape was not detected in Corsican and Galician honeys, but in almost all German and English honeys analysed to date;

• sweet chestnut was detected in almost all honeys from Corsica and Galicia, but only in a few German and English honeys;

• rockrose and olive were only detected in some Corsican honeys.

In addition, real time PCR systems for the detection of plant DNA as well as rape and rockrose DNA in food and feed were developed and validated in an internationally organised collaborative study. As a result of the collaborative study it could be shown that these systems can be used to detect plant, rape or rockrose DNA in honey (‘fit for purpose’). In addition, a pre-coated real-time PCR 96-well plate was developed and tested, and compared to the use of a blank 96-well plate. Using the pre-coated 96-well plate less false positive results were obtained and one false negative result. Based on Ct values it could be shown that there is no significant difference (p=0.43) between these two 96-well plate modules.

In conclusion, the major advantage of using DNA-based methods is that they are cost-effective. Assuming a laboratory is already established and staff are trained, a single sample analysis only needs to take into account the cost for DNA extraction from the sample and the subsequent PCR step, which will be approximately 10€ per sample for an official control laboratory.

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Companies are readily available that can synthesise DNA primer and probes to be used for PCR. These result in DNA sequences that are highly specific for a given species (e.g. the probability for a given 10 bases DNA sequence to be present in a genomic DNA is 1/1,048,576 base pairs); moreover the DNA is quite stable to any processing using heat or pressure. Therefore DNA can be still identified in canned products processed at 142°C for 20 min.

Overall taking the characteristics of PCR and its application to species identification, it can be concluded that it is a methodology that is already applicable for different purposes. International standards establishing the environment for running the methodology already exist and are agreed among scientists. The costs are low in comparison to other much more sophisticated analyses. By combining the identification of different targets in a single reaction (‘multi-plexing’), the costs can be further reduced. This also reduces the time and increases the efficiency of sample analysis. The individual steps can be automated to a very large extent. Instruments are available for DNA extraction as well as for the subsequent PCR step. This automation will also enhance the reliability of results.

The molecular biological methods developed TRACE are an important milestone in order to support the application of such PCR methods for the purpose of traceability of foods of plant and animal origin. All the methods are validated and fully described with regards to their performance and freely available for interested stakeholders equipped with the necessary laboratories and trained staff.

Consumer studies TRACE attempted to answer the following 3 main questions:

1. How consumers define “ability-to-trace” food products and food production systems.

2. What is the nature, the context and extent of consumer perceptions, wants, needs and expectations regarding “ability-to-trace” food origin and production process, as well as consumers’ values, benefits and features associated with such ability.

3. What is the nature, context and extent of utility consumers’ derive from “ability-to-trace”, attitudes towards, intention to purchase and willingness to pay for, traceable foods.

SO3. To develop rapid, robust, accurate and cost-effective methods for determining species/varietal origin of food

This Objective has been met in full.

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To address these questions, the following tasks were completed. A detailed literature review was conducted regarding consumer perception and acceptability of food traceability covering the period 1995–2005. Twenty four focus groups in 12 countries were conducted eliciting consumers’ expectations followed by laddering interviews in 4 countries. Last but not least, a 12-country survey modelling consumer behaviour regarding intention of purchase and a 6-country discrete choice experiment regarding utility consumers derive from “ability-to-trace” and willingness-to-pay were completed.

1. How European consumers define “ability-to-trace” food products and food production systems?

The literature review suggested that “traceability” is a hard notion for consumers to understand, and consumers have not been able to define or to describe it. Terms associated with traceability in the consumer’s mind move from technical to general (and also to no answer) varying with the skills and household income. It is also something different from the food geographical origin given on a label. The kind of store seems to be a discriminating criterion with regard to traceability perception: shoppers in supermarkets seem to pay little attention to traceability and seem less eager seekers of information. Shoppers in convenience stores are looking for traceability and are the most capable of defining it. Finally, consumers in traditional stores seem to use trust of sales people as a substitute for traceability and they are more attentive to traceability than buyers in supermarkets. Moreover, the word traceability does not mean the same thing for all consumers. It is mostly associated with animal origin and the stages of production. Traceability does not mean food safety but it is a good tool to reach it. Actually, the literature review has suggested that for consumers traceability evokes safety more than quality. Despite the fact that all consumers demand safer food, the concepts of safety, quality and trust are not the same in all countries due to cultural and background differences. A certain mistrust of traceability appears to exist: consumers have relatively higher levels of trust in public sector assurances about production methods than in those from the private sector, but they are beginning to pay more attention to labels and they seem reassured by a logo guaranteeing the validity of the information.

A picture was developed through the focus groups’ regarding the definition of traceability by European consumers. This is suitably depicted through a tree of mental associations (see Figure 11) derived from the analysis of the verbatim transcripts of the focus group discussions.

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Figure 11: Definition of traceability by European Consumers.

This tree develops from the left to the right. It is more abstract on the left and more detailed on the right with focus on the concrete aspects and utility of traceability.

2. What is the nature, the context and extent of consumer perceptions, wants, needs and expectations regarding “ability-to-trace” food origin and production process, as well as their associated values, benefits and features?

Consumers consider that the main attributes related to traceability are associated with the benefits trust/confidence and a sense of control linked via quality to safety. Consumers in several European countries were skeptical about the food system’s competency, adeptness, capability and facilities to perform tracing with the present practices; especially labelling. Consumers believe labels and information on the product can be easily changed by traders (thus, an increased likelihood of fraud). Consumers consider that traceability linked with specific carriers (e.g. barcodes) that are difficult to deceive is trustworthy. It is evident at the same time, that consumers do not clearly distinguish safety and quality in the way that experts may do. These are not separate concepts. Safety is one of the aspects of quality, and therefore finding a product that is of high quality means a product that is safe too (safety is inherent and implied). Interestingly, people indicate that they base their food choice in the shopping environment more on their quality perception because they believe they cannot themselves assess the safety level of a product, or they believe that all products available on the shelves are safe anyway. Ultimately, the main benefit that consumers derive from traceability through the overlapping issues of quality and safety is health. There is no evidence of variation of the above between consumers belonging to different groups (e.g. of different demographics) or from different EU countries. The data showed a surprisingly unified picture regarding perceived benefits, a picture confirmed later in the large quantitative survey. Traceable chicken/honey is seen similarly across Europe (in comparison to other chicken/honey available in the shops) as: a) healthier; b) tastier;

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c) more expensive; d) of known origin; e) safer; f) of more satisfying quality; and also g) guaranteed for being controlled.

Yet, regarding consumers’ perceptions, needs and wants, there was no general consensus about for which type of products traceability was important. For some consumers it was perceived that this is most important for fresh products (e.g. meat, dairy). This is supported by the important role of ‘best before’ date and the linked concepts of freshness, food not gone bad and healthy as they appeared in the value maps. Data from the quantitative phase (see discussion further below) also show no difference in the attitudes between chicken and honey. However, for other consumers traceability was not important for fresh products (specifically, fruit and vegetables). Our conclusion is that no specific product is a priority candidate for consumers regarding introduction of traceability; traceability applies uniformly to all food products.

Furthermore, the link between traceability and authenticity was not perceived in the same manner by all respondents or was not uniformly present. Some consumers indicated that authenticity could not be determined without traceability, whereas others argued the opposite position, an indication that for authentic product traceability would not be necessary. Authenticity can however, be generally perceived as an important attribute and people’s responses to detection of fraudulous products were strong; actions ranged from stopping buying the products to filing complaints with authorities and retailers. We conclude that a large variation of associations between traceability and authenticity exist, although use of specific carriers (see earlier) difficult to deceive is recommended.

The utility of communication means was subsequently tested quantitatively in choice experiments (see also discussion further below). IT systems have been in most countries perceived to be the most useful means followed by written information in some cases. Stamps/seals/logos have shown little utility contradicting support in extant literature that suggests the use of stamps and logos. We conclude that provision of traceability information for origin and production process through IT systems generally provides the greatest utility to European consumers.

Extent of traceability information: In line with previous research a contradiction is obtained between consumers’ wishes to have as much and as detailed information available as possible, while at the same time this information be displayed in a concise and understandable way on the actual product for fast assessment at the point of sale. We conclude (using the earlier discussion on the means to provide traceability information) that European consumers do not wish to have the detailed information on the product, but they want to be able to have access to traceability information in greater detail through IT systems.

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3. What is the nature, context and extent of utility consumers’ derive from “ability-to-trace”, attitudes towards, intention to purchase / willingness to pay for, traceable foods?

Predicting intention to purchase traceable food

Consumer attitudes towards traceable foods have been modeled using 5 explanatory variables: a) attitudes, b) own ability to identify the traceable food and understand such information (PBC), what others suggest (SN), habit and trust.

Norms (in general the opinion that is embraced in consumers’ surroundings) influence consumers’ willingness to purchase traceable chicken/honey, and this is reflected on what is approved by family, partners and friends; doctors and nutritionists; and finally media. Promotion by food industry and supermarkets is probably seen as serving alternative (profit-making?) purposes and thus it is apparently diverging in consumers’ minds from serving their own protection and needs.

Public policy action may thus follow two directions. From one side industry and supermarkets implement systems that guarantee traceability and provide products that are actually traceable; from the other side this being promoted by information sources that are trusted by consumers, including doctors, nutritionists and media. Attitudes are already very positive and European consumers clearly see the benefits of traceable chicken/honey, so there is no need to question if European consumers understand such benefits. Such promotion will be apparently met with an immediate and positive shift of European consumers towards the purchase of traceable food products. The results show that the influence of norms bears a strong, positive and potentially multiplicative effect.

Habit (alongside trust) interacts with norms for increased intention to purchase traceable chicken/honey. Where norms do not strongly influence intention to purchase, habit and trust towards traceability related aspects (i.e. already looking for information about the producer, production process, country-of-origin and certificates) form a substantive part of the predictive ability of norms towards intention to purchase. Where norms already have a strong predictive ability, habit and trust (for such information) further increase intention to purchase traceable chicken/honey. Caution is needed however. The data suggest that the notion of trust on traceability information, certification and true ability to trace back is currently a convoluted concept across EU countries. The notion of habit has also shown to be a different notion from what was originally conceived. Other predictors (e.g. frequency of product purchases) did not exhibit statistical significance. Demographics (i.e. age, household size, number of children income, education) did not either exhibit statistical significance in any of the two models. This was in line with the findings from the laddering study.

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Utility European consumer derive from traceability information and willingness to pay

Willingness to pay: Consumers expressed a negative opinion about increased payment. In countries where opinions diverge, data do not show a statistically significant trend. Not wishing to pay for it does not mean consumers do not want such information. Providing production/process information is statistically important in all 6 sampled countries for chicken and in 5 countries for honey. Government/EU certification for the purpose is most apparently appreciated by European consumers, although not across all countries.

Regarding the way, “technology based” information (through the internet) is preferred to written information in general, although this varies between products (these have equal weight for honey). Intention to purchase traceable chicken/honey does not also necessarily mean that consumers wish to be overloaded with information. European consumers clearly prioritise information about country-of-origin and brands compared to actual origin and production process information. Brands play a major role as vehicles for origin related information. If this is so, brands that convey information about origin may probably be the single and most important vehicle for traceability information (although provision of further details about production process through IT is in general helpful).

Domestic products are also strongly preferred. Coefficients are very high and strong, compared to other attributes’ coefficients, making this aspect also one of the most important for food choices by European consumers. This applies across both products in almost all countries. In contrast, information about regions or performed through stamps/seals has not shown statistically significant utility, a contradictory finding compared to current literature. The outcomes from the consumer studies have been published.37-46

Training and Dissemination Activities These included:

♦ 24 short-term training activities (trainings and training courses) for scientists from research institutes, universities, control authorities, governmental institutions

♦ 8 dissemination workshops

SO8. To assess European consumer perception, attitudes, and expectations regarding the ability-to-trace food products and food production systems, attitudes to Designated Origin products, food authenticity and food fraud.

This Objective has been met in full.

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♦ 2 Consumer Association (BEUC) workshops

♦ 6 TRACE conferences

♦ A Special Issue of Food Chemistry on Food Authenticity and Traceability

♦ Booklets on “Food Analysis by Fingerprinting Techniques” and “Food Authentication by Chemical Profiling”

♦ A Multimedia DVD called “Tracing the Origin of Food” - Information Pack

♦ An Interactive animation website “Tracing your Food” (http://www.foodtraceability.eu)

♦ A website providing traceability information including the GTP guides in Wiki format

♦ 60 peer reviewed publications to date

A key part of the TRACE Project was to become the focus for information and news on Food traceability and authenticity. This was achieved by the development of a parent website www.trace.eu.org, ancillary websites such as www.tracefood.org, www.foodtraceability.eu, the molecular biology database and a sophisticated intranet site for scientists working on the project. The TRACE website is dedicated to disseminate European information on food authenticity and traceability, as well as information regarding the project itself to several target audiences:

♦ to the scientists through the description of analytical methods, international congresses, peer-reviewed publications, training sessions and workshops;

♦ to industry through standards delivery, Good Traceability Practice guides and demonstration activities;

♦ to consumers through brochures, workshops and collaboration with BEUC;

♦ to the general public through bibliographic references database, e-newsletters as well as news and events.

♦ It also serves to promote some activities required by the EC including the gender issues or the ethical, legal and societal issues.

The website is conceived on two levels: a main homepage on food authenticity and traceability information and a secondary homepage on the project itself.

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The events and the news displayed in the main frame are provided by the web-correspondents, representative of each workgroup and country. They can put information directly on-line through the use of the administration tool.

In addition six bibliographic databases (events, news, useful links, press releases, documents produced in the frame of the project and external publications) published through Reference Manager Web Publisher 11.0 have been initiated (Thomson ResearchSoft, 2004). They were updated throughout the lifetime of the project to produce a comprehensive information resource on traceability and authenticity gathering 2175 documents.

On average the site has 70000 hits per month (Advanced Web Statistics 6.4) with 7000 page views a month (Google). A large part of the visitors came from Europe but also from USA, Canada, Brazil, Japan, China and Argentina.

Impact on industry TRACE has had considerable uptake by the stakeholders food sector:

♦ TraceCore XML assimilated into EPCIS

♦ TRACE verification techniques implemented by

o UK beef industry

o UK pork industry

o Cheese industry

o Australian pork industry

♦ Examples of industry uptake of TRACE outputs and approaches

o Parmigiano Reggiano PDO cheese consortium (IT)

o Grana Padano PDO cheese consortium (IT)

o Granja Pocitana S.R.L. olive oil (AR)

SO7. to develop and exploit a communication and dissemination system that will be the focus of European information on food authenticity and traceability.

This Objective has been met in full.

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o Bodega Augusto Pulenta winery (AR)

o Carton Group chicken producer (IE)

o EBLEX (and consortium) beef (UK)

o BPEX implementing isotopic techniques in the pork industry (UK)

Conclusion TRACE has become the focal point for food traceability and authenticity activities and regularly attracts >150 attendees to its conferences. Most of the outputs of TRACE are non-proprietary solutions; as such they have been welcomed by the industry sector. The outputs from the project are already being implemented by the food industry in an attempt to improve the consumer confidence and thereby boost the economy in the agri-food sector.

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References 1 Donnelly KAM et al, (2008), International Journal of Meta data and ontologies, 3 (4)

283-291.

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3 Karlsen K et al, (2010), British Food Journal, 112 (2) 187-197.

4 Olsen 2010, Trends in Food Science and Technology in press.

5 Voerkelius S et al, (2010), Food Chemistry, 118 (4) 933-940.

6 Camin F et al, (2007), Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry, 389 (1) 309-320.

7 Camin F et al, (2009), Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 58 570-577.

8 Schellenberg, A et al, (2010), Food Chemistry, 121 (3) 770-777.

9 Van der Veer G et al, (2008), Journal of Geochemical Exploration, 101 (2) 175-184.

10 Groselj N et al, (2010), Food Chemistry, 118 (4) 941-947.

11 Novic, M et al, (2008), Analytica Chimica Acta, 649 (1) 68-74.

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14 Cajka T et al, (2009), Journal of Chrom A, 1216 (9) 1458-1462.

15 Cajka T et al, (2010), Food Chemistry, 121 (1) 282-289.

16 Cajka T et al, (2010), Journal of Chromatography A, 1217 (25) 4195-4203.

17 Caetano S et al, (2007), Journal of Chemometrics, 21 324-334.

18 Donarski JA et al, (2008), Journal of Ag and Food Chem, 56 (14) 5451-5456.

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20 Hennessy S et al, (2008), Appl Spec, 62 (10) 1115-1123.

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23 Perez NF et al, (2009), Chemometrics and intelligent lab systems, 95 (2) 122-128.

24 Stanimirova I et al, (2007), Analytica Chimica Acta, 581 324-332.

25 Stanimirova I et al, (2007), Talanta, 72 172-178.

26 Stanimirova I et al, (2010), Food Chemistry, 118 (1) 171-176.

27 Ustun B et al, (2006), Chemometrics and Intelligent Laboratory Systems, 81 (1) 29-40.

28 Ustun B et al, (2007), Analytica Chimica Acta, 595 (1-2) 299-309.

29 Vaclavik L et al, (2009), Analytica Chimica Acta, 645 (1-2) 56-63.

30 Woodcock T et al, (2008), J Agric Food Chem, 56 (23) 11520-11525.

31 Woodcock T et al, (2009), Food Chemistry, 114 (2) 742-746.

32 Prins TW et al, (2010), Food Chemistry, 118 (4) 966-973.

33 Prins TW et al, (2008), BMC Genomics, 9 584.

34 Negrini R et al, (2007), Animal Genetics, 38 (1) 60-66.

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36 Laube I et al, (2010), Food chemistry, 118 (4) 979-986.

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43 Schaer B et al, (2006), European Association of Agricultural Economists 98th

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Co-ordinator: The Food and Environment Research Agency

Co-ordinator’s representative: Paul Brereton

Contact details:

Address: Sand Hutton, York, YO41 1LZ, UK.

Email: trace.enquiries@trace.eu.org

Telephone: 0044 1904 462700

Fax: 0044 1904 462133

Project logo:

Project website: http://trace.eu.org

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List of Participants

Institute Country Institute Country

The Food and Environment Research Agency

UK Catholic University of S. Cuore IT

Eurofins Scientific Analytics FR Universitat Rovira I Virgili ES DG Joint Research Centre of the European Commission

Institute of Quality Standards and Testing Technology for Agricultural Products

CN

Bundesinstitut für Risikobewertung

DE Radboud University Nijmegen NL

Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique

FR Universita di Genova IT

LGL Bayern DE TraceTracker Innovation AS1 NO Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH

AT SINTEF Fisheries & Aquaculture Ltd NO

EKPIZO GR Biolytix AG CH Institute of Food Research UK Geochem Research BV NL Walloon Agricultural Research Centre

BE Kenneth Pye Associates UK

Agricultural University of Athens GR WPA Beratende Ingenieure GmbH AT Vrije Universiteit Brussels BE Geschäftsstelle BATS CH RIKILT Institute of Food Safety NL Ecole Nationale d’Ingenieurs des

Techniques Agricoles de Clermont-Ferrand

FR

Institute of Chemical Technology Prague

CZ Qiagen GmbH DE

Fondazione Edmund Mach IT Wageningen University NL Bavarian State Collection for Palaeontology and Geology

DE Universidad Politecnica de Madrid ES

Institute of Chemical Methodologies of CNR

IT The Hellenic Research House GR

National Institute of Chemistry SI Famille Michaud Apiculteur FR National University of Ireland IE Agua Insalus ES TEAGASC IE University of Parma IT The Norwegian Institute of Food, Fisheries and Aquaculture Research

NO Bundesanstalt für Geowissenschaften und Rohstoffe

DE

University of Utrecht NL Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas

AR

Isolab GmbH DE National University of La Plata AR University of Silesia PL Universidad Nacional de Córdoba AR Hydroisotop GmbH DE University of East Anglia UK Maritech IS FoodReg ES

1 The participation of this contractor will be terminated once Contract Amendment No 8 is signed.

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Dissemination and use

It was always the intention that the majority of the outcomes from the TRACE project would be available to all, as such it was agreed by the project members that all outputs would be non-proprietary, and therefore not directly exploitable e.g. the molecular biology database and the traceability tools and software.

A summary of the outputs and information from the project that are available for public dissemination and use is provided on the next pages.

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Websites

TRACE public website: The www.trace.eu.org website was created and became active on 18/04/2005. It contains information about the TRACE project and its participants and Advisory Board. It also gives the public information about upcoming events and traceability news.

TraceFood.org provides information about how to implement traceability and a forum for anyone to contribute to the discussion. This website is (and will continue to be) used by other national and international traceability projects as a dissemination platform, ensuring that it will continue after the TRACE project has finished.

The website provides access to all of the major outputs from the traceability research in the TRACE project, including the Good Traceability Practice Guides (GTP). A sector-generic and 4 sector-specific GTP guides have been produced in the framework of the project. These GTP guides include the relevant “ad-hoc” standard providing guidance as to what information should be recorded in, and transmitted between, the links of each chain.

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Meetings

TRACE 1st ANNUAL MEETING – “Traceability and the Origin of Food”

The 1st TRACE annual meeting was held in York. The meeting included presentations from all the work package leaders and gave a general overview on what the TRACE project was about and it goals for the next 5 years.

http://www.trace.eu.org/meetings/meeting1os.php

TRACE 2nd ANNUAL MEETING – “Traceability and the Consumer”

This two day conference held in Prague on 24-25 April 2006 was aimed at putting the TRACE project into perspective, to update stakeholders on progress on the project, and report preliminary results, including a workshop looking at all aspects of consumer behavior. http://www.trace.eu.org/je/index.php

TRACE 3rd ANNUAL MEETING – “Perspectives from science, supply chain and the consumers” The 3rd TRACE conference in Crete attracted considerable interest from the media and press. 170 people from 27 countries attended the conference that reported the first application of TRACE systems and methodology. Participants also heard about a pan-European survey on what the consumer wants from traceability systems. An international forum on traceability held on Friday in conjunction with the PETER project (http://eu-peter.org) attracted speakers from Europe, US and Australia. http://trace.eu.org/je/greece/index.php

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TRACE 4TH ANNUAL MEETING – “Lost without TRACE – New approaches for tracing the origin of food”

The 4th annual TRACE conference took place in Spain and was a big success with nearly 170 people attending the 1 1/2 day meeting. Representatives from the food industry, regulatory bodies, academia, SMEs and consumer organisations attended the "Lost without TRACE" conference. The associated workshop "TRACEFood Framework and TraceCore XML", the scientific session on analytical techniques and the PETER session attracted people from many European and non-European countries. http://trace.eu.org/je/spain/index.php

TRACE 5TH ANNUAL MEETING – “TRACE in practice – New methods and systems for confirm the origin of food”

The 5th TRACE annual conference took place in Freising, Germany 1-3 April 2009. It was a big success with nearly 150 people attending the 2.5 days workshop and meeting. Representatives from the food industry, regulatory bodies, academia, SME and consumer organisations attended the

"TRACE in practice" conference. The workshop "Isotope ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS)", the plenary session on new methods and systems for confirming the origin of food, the parallel sessions on analytical techniques for authenticating food and on traceability systems now and in future attracted people from 85 institutes from 25 countries. http://trace.eu.org/je/germany/index.php

TRACE 6TH ANNUAL MEETING – “How to trace the origin of food”

The 6th TRACE conference took place on 2-3 December 2009, at the Autoworld in Brussels. The conference was entitled “How to trace the origin of food”. The conference was dedicated to the TRACE results and featured the following topics: Consumers’ perception of food traceability in Europe, TRACE and international impact, traceability systems, analytical techniques to authenticate

the origin of food, traceability and the future. Poster sessions, interactive demonstration

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activities and “a market place” showcasing projects/companies exploiting TRACE outputs took also place. Over 165 people attended the conference, coming from 29 countries throughout the world. http://www.trace.eu.org/je/belgium/index.php

TRACE on Research Connection 2009

The European Commission organised on 7-8 May 2009 a high level research event in Prague under the Czech presidency. The EU commissioner Janez Potočnik opened the two day event where more than 1300 people participated from 53 countries. TRACE joined 5 other EU funded food traceability projects (TraceBack, Sigma Chain, Prosafebeef and BioTracer) in a press conference on the outputs of traceability projects. Lively discussion with the members of the press (approx 40) in the room made the whole event last longer than the expected 45 minutes. Patrick Vittet‐Philippe, the EC’s Press and Information Officer responsible for the press programme of Research Connection 2009, congratulated the team on their presentation and the stimulation of an active interest by the press.

Heiner Lehr (FoodReg) made a live demonstration to interested journalists of TRACE’s food specification maps and its TraceFood framework. He also gave out an additional press pack, specifically created for the occasion.

Workshops

A total of 14 workshops were held during the 5 years of the project, 6 of which were held during 2009:

Traceability along the food chain – CSL, York, 18 April 2005

The first workshop was held as part of the 1st TRACE Annual Conference. It included 3 presentations: “Introduction to Traceability, “Importance of local foods to the European Consumer” and “New Traceability Legislation”. http://www.trace.eu.org/ws/ws_cic.php

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Introduction to analytical techniques for tracing the origin of food CSL, York, 18 April 2005

This 1/2 day workshop was also held as part of the 1st TRACE annual conference. It gave an overview on the analytical techniques for tracing the origin of food. http://www.trace.eu.org/ws/ws_1.php

Consumers' perception of food traceability in Europe Prague - Czech Republic, 26 April 2006, Prague, Czech Republic

This workshop was held as part of the 2nd Annual conference and there were 7 presentations which are available at http://www.trace.eu.org/ws/ws_2.php

BEUC FWG Meeting, TRACE workshop, workshop dedicated to the consumer associations – Athens, Greece 27 June 2006

The aim of the workshop was for the European Consumer Associations to be informed about the work in the consumer behaviour part of the project and establish the link between the TRACE consumer scientists and BEUC. There were 5 presentations from members of the project. http://www.trace.eu.org/ws/ws_beuc.php

Risk and cost-benefit analysis of traceability in the agri-food chain Ispra – Italy, 13-14 December 2007

The 3rd TRACE training workshop focused on “Risk and Cost Benefit Analysis of Traceability in the Agro-Food Chain” was organized by MARS PAC, in collaboration with the CO-Extra project and TRACE consortium.

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TraceFood Framework and TraceCore XML, Spain, 23 April 2008

This one day workshop was included as part of the 4th Annual Conference in Spain. There were a total of 12 presentations and further details can be located at http://trace.eu.org/je/spain/meeting4ws.php

Sino-EU Workshop on development and application of trace technologies for food safety and Quality Beijing – China, 16 October 2008

A workshop entitled “Sino-EU Workshop on Development and Application of Trace Technologies for Food Safety and Quality” was held on 16 October 2008, Beijing, China. The results of the demonstration and scientific analysis were presented as part of an international programme at this workshop. Further information is available http://www.trace.eu.org/ws/ws_sinoeu.php

Molecular Biology Methods for Traceability Purposes, Berlin, Germany 18-19 December 2008

More than 70 scientists from 13 countries discussed the latest developments during the TRACE project dissemination workshop on “Molecular biology methods for traceability purposes” in Berlin, Germany on 18th – 19th of December 2008 organised the by the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR), Berlin, Germany.

Several speakers developing multiplex techniques addressed also the increase of parallel controls and automatism. Microarray tools are promising to overcome these problems. http://www.trace.eu.org/ws/ws_berlin.php

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Harmonizing methods for food traceability process mapping and cost/benefit calculations related to implementation of electronic traceability systems – 25-26 February 2009, Tromose, Norway.

The workshop entitled "Harmonizing methods for food traceability process mapping and cost/benefit calculations related to implementation of electronic traceability systems" was organized on 25 - 26 February 2009, in Nofima Market, Tromsoe University Campus, Tromsoe, Norway, by NOFIMA, Norway. This workshop was initiated by the EU FP6 TRACE project in conjunction with the EU FP6

TRACEBACK and Chill-On projects, but was open for other interested and active parties. http://www.trace.eu.org/ws/ws_nofima.php

Isotope ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS) Workshop - Analytical and technical aspects of the δ18O-determination of organic substances – 1 April 2009

The above workshop was held on 1 April 2009 in Freising, Germany. It was organised by Claus Schlicht and Antje Schellenberg (LGL). A total of 6 presentations were given and details of the presentations can be found using the following web link: http://trace.eu.org/je/germany/meeting5ws.php

Methods and systems for tracking, tracing and verifying foods – 13-15 May 2009, Maryland USA

This workshop was part of the 10th joint Fera (CSL)/JIFSAN symposium. All the details of the workshop including presentations can be found at: http://www.trace.eu.org/ws/ws_jfsan.php.

How to implement traceability? – 11 June 2009, Des Moines, Iowa, USA

This workshop was organised as a follow up to the “Economics of the Food and Agricultural Supply Chain Conference”. Further details can be found at http://www.trace.eu.org/ws/ws_iowa.php

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Determining the geographical origin of food: TRACE elements and isotopic patterns in food verification – 3 November 2009, Prague, Czech Republic

The globalisation of food markets, and the relative ease with which food commodities are transported through and between countries and continents, means that consumers are increasingly concerned about the origin of the foods they eat. A growing body of research articles have been published in the last five years detailing the use of natural abundance isotope variation

and elemental concentrations as geographic 'tracers' to determine the provenance of food. These investigations exploit the systematic global variations of stable hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and sulphur isotope ratios in combination with elemental concentrations, including heavy isotope variations (e.g. strontium-87) and other biogeochemical indicators.

This workshop presented developments from the EU FP6 TRACE project in the application of multi-isotopic and multi-element methods in the emerging field of "Food Forensics". http://www.trace.eu.org/ws/ws_rafa.php

New Techniques for Food Assurance and Traceability – 17 December 2009, York, UK

Key decision makers from the food and beverage industries gathered at a TRACE workshop to learn more about how the latest scientific innovations can give their products a leading edge. Delegates attended from across Europe to hear about the latest traceability methods for the industry.

Areas covered at the conference included:

• Honey, lamb, chicken, wheat – tracing the geographic origin • Beer – authentication of Trappist beers • Gelatine – determining the species of origin • Beef – verification of storage conditions • Oils and fats – profiling techniques • Food sector traceability practice

Specialists from across Europe presented their most recent analytical capabilities in food assurance to an audience composed of representatives working in quality assurance, supply chain and branding roles. http://www.trace.eu.org/ws/ws_york.php

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Other TraceCore XML

A non-proprietary communication language scheme has been developed to enable electronic traceability information to be transmitted in a standard way i.e. so that all parts of the chain can

understand the information. The final version of http://www.tracefood.org/index.php/Tools:TraceCore_XML_Overview has been published on the TraceFood website. To ensure the longevity of “TraceCoreXML”, it has been aligned with the EPCIS XML format.

Tracing the Origin of Food - DVD

A TRACE DVD entitled “Tracing the Origin of Food - Information Pack” has been prepared and was circulated to all attendees at the 6th TRACE Conference. The DVD contains information about many of the major outputs of the project including training workshops, conferences, websites, publications and videos.

Food Chemistry Special Edition

Food Chemistry Special Edition – Volume 118, Issue 4, 15 February 2010. A special edition of Food Chemistry was published comprising TRACE publications and others in the Food Traceability and Authenticity area. Copies of the journal were distributed to attendees at the 6th TRACE Conference.

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Booklets

A booklet was produced a booklet by the fingerprinting group intended for stakeholders with simplified information about fingerprinting techniques and relevant recommendations for traceability in the olive oil, honey, beer and chicken sectors. This booklet was translated into English, Spanish and Italian.

http://trace.eu.org/brochures/booklet.php

A booklet entitled ‘Food Authentication by Chemical Profiling’ was prepared by UEA in cooperation with members of the chemical profiling group. The booklet describes the background and main results of the work performed in this area during the TRACE project. It is written in easy-to-understand language aimed at members of the public and industry.

E-Newsletters

e-newletters have been published during the project providing news and results from the TRACE project and other food authenticity and traceability projects. In addition, news and events within and outside Europe were included. For more information regarding the newsletter and the option to download the latest copy, or to subscribe to future copies, please visit (http://trace.eu.org/library/eletter.php).

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Tracing your Food Portal

The “Tracing your Food” portal is an interactive website that exemplifies the TraceFood Framework from different points of view including the supply chain and consumers please visit (http://www.foodtraceability.eu).

Molecular Biology Database

The detection methods developed to identify the origin of meat, honey and cereals are available from the online TRACE database on molecular markers.

www.trace.eu.org/mbdb

TRACE video

TRACE has undertaken activities in several commodities. Some of them have been illustrated through videos:

1. Mineral Water

The TRACE traceability system was deployed in the Agua de Insalus mineral water company for a period of 3 months from January 2007. A 1 day conference entitled “Calidad e Innovación al Servicio de la Excelencia” (“Quality and innovation for excellence”) was held on 27th November 2008 at AZTI-Tecnalia, Derio (Bizkaia), Spain. The participation of Insalus in the project was explained and the results achieved were shown, together with the video summarising the traceability system developed in the mineral water food chain.

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2. Beer

Beer is an example of a processed cereal product that is consumed widely across the EU and the wider world. Brand identity is a key attribute of beers and often arises from longstanding brewing practices associated with a region, town or even religious order. One such example of the latter is the Trappist beer produced in Belgium and The Netherlands. Trappist and non-Trappist beers have been used by the TRACE project to develop original models enabling one to distinguish the origin of beer products, Rochefort. The video gives an overview of the process of the beer production chain and illustrates outcomes of the beer study.