Food authenticity testing to control Free Trade Agreements and Protected Geographical Indications

Eurofins DNA fingerprinting for rice authenticity testing

For fragrant rice from Southeast Asia, including Vietnam, Eurofins has established a DNA fingerprinting method (Nader et al., 2020), which was originally developed for Basmati authenticity testing (Nader et al., 2019). It is based on 15 microsatellite or SSR (simple sequence repeats) markers and the detection of the fragrance gene fgr, which causes the typical aroma of Basmati, Jasmine, Iranian Sadri and Italian Nero Venere rice.

Food authenticity testing depends on the availability of reference materials. Such materials were recently obtained by the Eurofins Food Testing laboratories in Germany for six of the nine fragrant rice varieties in the EU Vietnam FTA: Jasmine 85, ST 20, Nang Hoa 9 (NàngHoa 9), VD 20, OM 4900 and OM 5451. With the exception of OM 5451, these varieties contain the fragrance fgr. Rice traders have recently confirmed that OM 5451 was erroneously included in the agreement erroneously as a fragrant.

Stable isotope analysis to confirm declared geographical origins

DNA fingerprinting can be combined with COHNS analysis to confirm the geographical origin of the rice from Vietnam. The ratios of the stable isotopes of carbon (¹³C/¹²C), oxygen (¹⁸O/¹⁶O), hydrogen (²D/¹H), nitrogen (¹⁵N/¹⁴N) and sulphur (³⁴S/³²S) depend on the conditions in the cultivated area with regard to climate, soil, water and altitude. Rice from fields in Vietnam can be distinguished from those in Thailand or Cambodia by discriminant function analysis of these stable isotope ratios.

Authenticity testing of rice under EU PGI and PDO protection

In principle, it is possible to identify each rice variety by DNA fingerprinting once reference materials are available to the laboratory. Rice specialties from Italy, Spain, Portugal, Hungary, Thailand and Colombia are protected by PGIs or Protected Designations of Origin (PDOs) under EU Regulation No 1151/2012. Beside the geographical origin, PGIs and PDOs also define the rice varieties, which fall under the protection.

PGIs can also be included in FTAs, such as the Arroz de la meseta de Ibagué in the FTA with Colombia. The EU and India are currently negotiating an FTA with a proposal to integrate the Indian PGI claims for Basmati rice. Since already 2004, 9 varieties of Basmati from India and Pakistan are exempted from import duty as brown cargo rice and DNA fingerprinting is used for customs controls.

With the method published in 2019 (Nader et al., 2019) the Eurofins laboratory network in Germany is able to identify all 39 Basmati varieties from India and Pakistan in the British and European Code of Practice for Basmati rice of 2022 and 37 of the 43 cultivars, which have been notified by India as authentic Basmati since 1969. The DNA fingerprinting method and the COHNS analysis from the Eurofins  laboratories in Germany are therefore useful tools to check compliance with the PGIs and PDOs, as well as varietal and geographical authenticity.