EIT Food ETHIChain

Problem

The complexity affecting most of the food supply chains make them extremely vulnerable to food fraud. In a scenario of diminished trust, communities with specific ethical and religious dietary requirements such as vegan, Halal and Kosher, are not free from food trust concerns.

Transparency and proper communication of this transparency to consumer results crucial.

Solutions

EIT Food ETHIChain will focus on the development of rapid and portable DNA analysis systems to verify the absence of unwanted species in vegan, Halal and Kosher foods to help deter food fraud among these commodities. The obtained results will be digitalised and directly integrated in the product´s traceability system.

The communication and implementation of systems of this kind will be a boost to improve consumer confidence in those brands incorporating innovative solutions to verify authenticity.

Traceability systems having portions of accessible and understandable information for consumers, will make them feel witness of food industries’ effort to make production more transparent.

Expected outcomes

The development and digitalisation of rapid and portable DNA analysis system will allow:

• The development of a series of DNA analysis-based authenticity kits to detect possible presence of animal food in vegan food; pork DNA in Halal food; and pork, donkey, and horse DNA in kosher food.
• A comprehensive evaluation of vegan, Halal and Kosher products commercialised in Europe and Israel to demonstrate the level of authenticity among those products.
• A digitisation system gathering information from food sensing technologies for direct incorporation into the products proprietary traceability system.