At the biannual Exchange conference in Athens, Greece, GOED’s director of technical outreach and compliance, Gerard Bannenberg, shared the latest results from GOED’s randomized testing programme.
Each year, GOED tests 20 to 24 products via Eurofins labs and then provides feedback to the owners to improve product quality. The organization maintains the confidentiality of the specific products tested but offers an overview of the data to member companies.
For label claim compliance, the mean of all tested products was 103% of stated EPA/DHA and 106% of total omega-3s. Impressively, 61% of the products contained at least 100% of their claimed EPA/DHA, while 69% contained at least 100% of total claimed omega-3’s. Apart from three “bad” products, all provided at least 80% of their label claim, which Bannenberg described as “pretty good”.
The data found no link between oxidative quality indicators and time until the end of shelf life, suggesting that products have a higher oxidative stability than expected.
In 2023, the contaminants testing included heavy metals, dioxins and furands, PCBs, polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), per/polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), bisphenol A, 3-monochloropropanediol (3-MCPD) esters and glycidyl esters, phthalates (plasticizers), mineral oil saturated hydrocarbons (MOSH), and mineral oil aromatic hydrocarbons (MOAH).
On contaminants compliance, Bannenber was amazed to see 100% compliance for heavy metals, persistent organic pollutants, PAH, and PFAS. However, 60% of the products tested contained low but measurable levels of one or more phthalates.
The European Commission’s decision to set legally binding limits for MOAH and MOSH has created a real challenge for the food industry in general and for edible oil in particular. Members states have agreed to withdraw products above this limit, while discussions continue to make this a legally binding limit. The goal is to eliminate mineral oils from food, presenting a significant challenge for the industry, noted Bannenberg.