Vinegar
Integrity issues
There are three main types of vinegar integrity issues:
- non-compliance with the regulatory reference standards (e.g. acidity and residual alcohol content).
- unpermitted addition of undeclared compounds, such as dyes, organic acids, sweeteners and/or preservatives
- mislabelling with false declaration of botanical origin and/or vinegar category. The aim of this adulteration is to give premium price and value to products with low quality.
Potential threat to public health
One of the first frauds in the vinegar industry, and one that has been occurring for more than eighty years, is the addition of chemical or non-biological acetic acid to different types of vinegar contrary to the vinegar industry regulations. The vinegar obtained by chemical acetic acid is called wood vinegar or vinegar essence, and it cannot be sold as fermented vinegar due to it contains more heavy metals per kg of pure acetic acid that the regulated permitted amount (maximum of 5 mg/kg pure acetic acid), which supposes a risk for the consumer. In this sense, European legislation indicates that authentic wine vinegar cannot contain acetic acid obtained from either petroleum derivatives or wood pyrolysis (synthetic acetic acid).
To preserve Vinegar reputation and consumer health, monitor their integrity through analytical testing
Our expertise
Fraud is becoming increasingly sophisticated and therefore more difficult to detect by conventional analysis, as it is often designed to circumvent these controls. It is therefore necessary to use advanced analytical techniques to detect non-compliant products. A considerable investment in R&D allows Eurofins companies to apply the most appropriate methods to each particular case when checking the authenticity of your vinegars.
Statistical review
FAIL assessment on Eurofins company report means that the product is not marketable according to :
- EC 583/2009 (balsamic)
- And/or any other legal definition or limits
- Labelling & specifications
Disclaimer: Non compliance rates presented here are global and may not reflect accurately the market situation in each country but they can be used as qualitative indications for major risks for on a worldwide basis
Non compliance rates observed for vinegar samples analysed (all tests) between 2014 and 2020
Eurofins Network Offer
| Testing requests | Methods |
|---|---|
|
Botanical origin control |
Stable Isotopes testing (SNIF-NMR and IRMS) |
|
Detection of sugar addition in balsamic vinegar |
Stable Isotopes testing (SNIF-NMR and IRMS) and oligosacharides GC-FID analyses |
|
Identify and quantify the major and minor components such as acidity, residual alcohol content, dry extract, density, SO2 |
Composition analyses |
FOODINTEGRITY HANDBOOK
Eurofins is partner of FoodIntegrity Handbook, a useful companion written by nearly 50 experts in food authenticity
