Detection of food counterfeits

Since 1995, the institutes NMI and IMS CHIPS have been working with the Universitätsaugenklinik Tübingen and other partners to develop a system that will make it easier to detect counterfeits of food of animal origin.

Does sheep's milk cheese also contain cow's milk? Is cattle material processed in animal feed? These and other questions about adulteration of food of animal origin are at the heart of the "Animal-ID" research project, which the NMI has been working on together with the Bundesinstitut für Risikobewertung (BfR - German Institute for Risk Assessment) and the Institut für Produktqualität GmbH (ifp) since 2016.

"Illegal admixtures in meat, when discovered, not only unsettle consumers but can also pose health risks," says BfR President Professor Dr. Dr. Andreas Hensel. "That's why it's absolutely essential that monitoring authorities have methods to quickly and reliably detect such food adulteration."

The aim of the project is to develop new analytical methods that can be used to reliably detect animal components in food and animal feed. Among other things, sensitive and highly specific tests are to be developed to detect even the smallest traces of illegal additives, for example.