Development of a framework for database interrogation

Defra, FSA, FSS and Government Chemist (GC) have been working together to identify areas where Government can facilitate progress on some of the underpinning scientific issues that have emerged regarding authenticity of honey and are currently progressing a number of workstreams.

The aim is to put in place the tools, standards and guidance needed to facilitate effective testing for honey fraud and allow enforcement of food standards which protects consumers and legitimate businesses.

As part of this work, we want to establish a practical framework to allow independent scrutiny of proprietary authenticity databases to assess their fitness for purpose to individual samples. This was one of the suggestions arising from the 2019 honey seminar. One of the commercial testing providers has offered to open their databases for scrutiny by government. If we are to take up this offer, we need a structured, tested basis for assessing databases - to ensure they are fit for purpose and appropriate for the authenticity question they are addressing.

GC (as the body which provides independent, science-based advice to Government and the analytical community across measurement science) are best-placed to lead on this specific honey workstream deliverable.