National foreword

This British Standard is the UK implementation of EN 17972:2024.

The UK participation in its preparation was entrusted to Technical Committee AW/34/46, Food Authenticity.

A list of organizations represented on this committee can be obtained on request to its committee manager.

Contractual and legal considerations

This publication has been prepared in good faith, however no representation, warranty, assurance or undertaking (express or implied) is or will be made, and no responsibility or liability is or will be accepted by BSI in relation to the adequacy, accuracy, completeness or reasonableness of this publication. All and any such responsibility and liability is expressly disclaimed to the full extent permitted by the law.

This publication is provided as is, and is to be used at the recipient’s own risk.

The recipient is advised to consider seeking professional guidance with respect to its use of this publication.

This publication is not intended to constitute a contract. Users are responsible for its correct application.

Compliance with a British Standard cannot confer immunity from legal obligations.

This British Standard was published under the authority of the Standards Policy and Strategy Committee on 30 November 2024.

This European Standard was approved by CEN on 21 July 2024.

CEN members are bound to comply with the CEN/CENELEC Internal Regulations which stipulate the conditions for giving this European Standard the status of a national standard without any alteration. Up-to-date lists and bibliographical references concerning such national standards may be obtained on application to the CEN-CENELEC Management Centre or to any CEN member.

This European Standard exists in three official versions (English, French, German). A version in any other language made by translation under the responsibility of a CEN member into its own language and notified to the CEN-CENELEC Management Centre has the same status as the official versions.

CEN members are the national standards bodies of Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye and United Kingdom.

European foreword

This document (EN 17972:2024) has been prepared by Technical Committee CEN/TC 460 “Food authenticity”, the secretariat of which is held by DIN.

This European Standard shall be given the status of a national standard, either by publication of an identical text or by endorsement, at the latest by May 2025, and conflicting national standards shall be withdrawn at the latest by May 2025.

Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject of patent rights. CEN shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.

Any feedback and questions on this document should be directed to the users’ national standards body. A complete listing of these bodies can be found on the CEN website.

According to the CEN-CENELEC Internal Regulations, the national standards organisations of the following countries are bound to implement this European Standard: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye and the United Kingdom.

Introduction

The general dictionary definition of “authenticity” is “the quality of being authentic”, and the relevant dictionary definitions of “authentic” include “not false or copied; genuine; real” and “having an origin supported by unquestionable evidence; authenticated; verified”. This document defines various terms and concepts in relation to authenticity and fraud related to feed and food products, including what various terms mean and what they entail. The aim of this document is to provide an internally consistent set of definitions that to a large degree is also in line with other definitions and with common word usage.

The terms and concepts defined here are largely based on the relationship between food product characteristics and food product claims. Food products have characteristics of various types; these characteristics are the real and actual properties that the food product in question has. Examples can include various characteristics related to the origin of the food product, the processes undergone in making it, the composition of the food product, the presence of additives, the eco-label status, etc. Some of these characteristics, such as composition, are physically inherent in the food product, whereas some other characteristics, such as eco-label status or exact origin, are not. Food products also come with some explicit claims attached, at least if they are sold commercially, when a certain amount of product information is mandatory. Claims are statements made about the food product; either explicitly (“this is extra virgin olive oil, and the label says so”) or implicitly (“this food is safe”). Authenticity when it comes to food products is when there is a match between the actual characteristic of the food product and the claim made about it. Lack of authenticity can be deliberate, as when someone intentionally makes a false claim about a food product; then we refer to it as food fraud, and there are various types of food fraud identified in this document. Lack of authenticity can also be accidental, for instance when an error in the production process or in the documentation / labelling process has led to a mismatch between the product characteristic and the claim. Note that the term “claim” in this document refers to any explicit or implicit statement which implies that a food product has a certain characteristic, whether the provision of this information is legally required or not.

This document intends to provide a common ground upon which future work regarding the authenticity and fraud of food products can be based.

1 Scope

This document provides technical definitions of terms relating to authenticity and fraud when referring to food products. All terms and definitions are in the context of food supply chains, but most of them can also be applied when referring to feed products and the feed supply chain.

2 Normative references

3 Terms and definitions

Bibliography

BS EN 17972:2024

Food authenticity. Food authenticity and fraud. Concepts, terms and definitions

Current

Published:

30 Nov 2024