Reference materials for food authentication

The global food industry faces significant challenges in ensuring the safety and authenticity of food products. Economic adulteration and counterfeiting of food are estimated to cost the industry US$30–40 billion annually. Analytical testing plays a vital role in detecting food fraud. For ensuring the metrological traceability and comparability of testing results, the use of reference materials (RMs) is crucial. The article describes the role of RMs in food authenticity testing, including their applications in method validation, calibration, quality control, and the definition of conventional measurement scales. It also reviews the availability of RMs that can be used in measurement procedures to authenticate food. Furthermore, the applications of RMs in targeted adulterant detection methods, for compositional parameters used to authenticate foods and food supplements, isotopic measurements, untargeted food authenticity testing methods, and detection and quantification of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), are explored. The document concludes by recommending the development of research grade test materials or representative test materials to harmonise untargeted testing methods and improve comparability of results across laboratories and over time.