Authenticity and Typicity of Traditional Cheeses: A Review on Geographical Origin Authentication Methods

Abstract

Food fraud, corresponding to any intentional action to deceive purchasers and gain an undue economical advantage, is estimated to result in a 10 to 65 billion US dollars/year economical cost worldwide. Dairy products, such as cheese, in particular cheeses with protected land- and tradition-related labels, have been listed as among the most impacted as consumers are ready to pay a premium price for traditional and typical products. In this context, efficient food authentication methods are needed to counteract current and emerging frauds. This review reports the available authentication methods, either chemical, physical, or DNA-based methods, currently used for origin authentication, highlighting their principle, reported application to cheese geographical origin authentication, performance, and respective advantages and limits. Isotope and elemental fingerprinting showed consistent accuracy in origin authentication. Other chemical and physical methods, such as near-infrared spectroscopy and nuclear magnetic resonance, require more studies and larger sampling to assess their discriminative power. Emerging DNA-based methods, such as metabarcoding, showed good potential for origin authentication. However, metagenomics, providing a more in-depth view of the cheese microbiota (up to the strain level), but also the combination of methods relying on different targets, can be of interest for this field.

Assessment of cheese frauds, and relevant detection methods: A systematic review

“…In studies from 850 to 1048 nm wavelength region has been used to evaluate the adulteration of cheeses. ( Cardin et al, 2022 ).…”

The Role of Promoting Agricultural and Food Products Certified with European Union Quality Schemes

“…Another risk is the food fraud in the realm of PDO, PGI, and TSG food products, which represents a significant economic burden, estimated to cost between USD 10 to 65 billion annually globally. Dairy products, especially cheeses with protected labels, are among the most impacted by food fraud, as consumers are willing to pay a higher price for these supposedly authentic products [ 19 ]. This fraudulent activity includes mislabeling, use of non-authentic ingredients, and misleading marketing to exploit the higher market value of certified products.…”

“…The implications of such fraudulent activities are extensive, impacting both consumer health and producer economics. Consumers face health risks from products that may not meet safety standards, while producers suffer economic losses and damage to the reputation of genuine certified food products [ 19 , 20 ].…”

Evaluation of traditional semi‐hard Brazilian cheeses using chemometric tools to identify possible denomination fraud

“…2021; Cardin et al . 2022). Therefore, reliable analytical methods are needed to integrate information.…”

“…In the case of cheese, this topic is complex because it involves factors such as origin, cultural aspects, marketing, final cost and quality. Recent research shows that each type of cheese can have characteristics of various types, with elements in its chemical and physical composition that are used to assess its authenticity through different analytical methods (chemical, physical or DNA-based methods) and statistical and chemometric methods (multivariate models such as PLS, PLS-DA and LDA) (Kamimura et al 2019;Robson et al 2021;Cardin et al 2022). Therefore, reliable analytical methods are needed to integrate information.…”