Food and beverage fraud prevention using stable isotope fingerprints

The food and beverage industry suffers from fraudulent activities that include incorrect labeling of products and adulteration, which has a significant impact on food and beverage safety, brand names and reputation and the market economy. Preventing food and beverage fraud is a key challenge that requires a reliable, cost-effective analytical process that can detect food and beverage fraud. Detecting food and beverage fraud can be achieved using stable isotope measurements because stable isotopes can differentiate between food and beverage samples which otherwise share identical chemical composition: this is called the isotope fingerprint. Using the isotope fingerprint of food and beverage products is a reliable and unique technique in food and beverage fraud prevention and food safety. We show data are shown demonstrating how stable isotope fingerprints offer conclusive answers on questions associated with origin, adulteration and correct labeling of food and beverage products.