Miljöförvaltningen

Basmati rice-for real and safe?

Miljöförvaltningen

Why basmati rice?

• Food fraud – important control area

• Basmati rice has special characteristics

• Experience in UK from food fraud in this area

• Food safety (non-organic arsenic, lead and cadmium)

Miljöförvaltningen

Basmati rice

• Long grain rice which is cultivated in India and Pakistan

• It has special characteristics; regarding taste, aroma and cooking qualities

• The rice is popular and the price is often higher compared to other types of rice

Pictures: wikipedia.org

https://raindropsbasmatirice.wordpress.com

Miljöförvaltningen

Control of Basmati rice

• Verify that rice sold as Basmati rice is Basmati rice

• Pilot project to test if the DNA-analysis according to the ”British retail Consortium Code of Practice” could be used to determine whether the rice is authentic or not

• The samples were also analysed for the content

of non-organic arsenic, cadmium and lead

Miljöförvaltningen

Project

• 5 companies, 10 samples of rice of different brands

• Analysis of DNA and heavy metals

• Questions to the companies regarding traceability, labelling, complaints, storage conditions

Miljöförvaltningen

Results

• 8 of 10 samples fulfilled the requirements in the COP

• 1 sample from India contained 89 % of the type Pusa 1121-approved by Indian authorities

• 1 sample from Pakistan contained 39 % non basmati rice according to the COP

Miljöförvaltningen

Results

• The results regarding lead and cadmium where below the legislative limits and the values for non-organic arsenic was below the proposed EU-limits

• The hygienic standard was good

• The companies had no special routines for verifiying that the rice was authentic basmati rice, but in some cases the consignment had a certificate from the country of origin

Miljöförvaltningen

Conclusions

• Important to check for food fraud

• Small project to test new control method

• Complicated legislative area - need for central guidance

• Expensive analyses - need for coordinated actions

• Need for further control

• Companies must have routines for verifying authenticity

• Good results for the analyses of heavy metals