76
8 Yerba Mate, the Global Commerce, and Possible Adulteration …
(5) Control of information concerning product expiration in terms of sell-by-date
or expiration dates (generally, the ‘shelf life’ information).
Many of these instruments are based on reliable ‘traceability’ systems. Traceability
issues are certainly interesting when speaking of safety risks and correlated analyses
at least, including shelf life information, according to the Parisi’s First Law of Food
Degradation
1 (FNCF 2020; Parisi 2002a, b, 2003, 2004, 2012, 2013, 2016; Srivastava
2019; Volpe et al. 2015). On the other hand, it has to be always remembered that
authenticity concerns are strictly related to food frauds and related gains.
As discussed in Chap. 1, yerba mate adulteration episodes and related researches
do not show worrying trends in the last decade. However, and based on the European
Union (EU) Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) Consumers’ Portal,
publicly available on the web (https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/rasff-window/consum
ers/), we can signal that the possibility of yerba mate-related frauds can exist … and
with a certain variety (European Commission 2020a, b).
Consequently, there is need of accurate and reliable traceability information
concerning this product, also because of the possible packaging and labelling in
non-South American countries. A deep analysis of selected scientific references and
above-discussed RASFF Notifications can give the following directions (Crighton
et al. 2019; Kucharska-Ambro˙ zej and Karpinska 2020; Lima 2019; Marcelo et al.
2014; Porcari et al. 2016; Poswal et al. 2019; Preti 2019; Santos et al. 2020; Schneider
2017; Schneider et al. 2018; Sniechowski and Paul 2008; Trentanni Hansen et al.
2019; Vieira et al. 2020):
(1) Undeclared and fraudulent addition of carbohydrates: saccharose, glucose, and
fructose. Reason: sensorial enhancement for expired or low-quality yerba mate
products.
(2) Fraudulent identification of origin concerning yerba mate products. Reason:
economic gain obtained by claiming incorrect geographical origin for yerba
mate
(3) Fraudulent addition and mixing of I. paraguariensis with other Ilex species.
Reasons; economic gain because of the addition of cheap raw materials
(4) Fraudulent labelling in terms of mandatory and facultative information to the
consumer.
These options rely on the modification or misrepresentation of one or more of the
following information (because food authenticity and its contrary, food fraud, are
always linked to information):
(1) Name of the food
(2) Brand
(3) Product identification
(4) Lot identification
(5) List of ingredients
1 This Law states that ‘There are not foods which are not subjected over time to a progressive
transformation of their chemical, physical, organoleptic, microbiological, and structural features.
8 Yerba Mate, the Global Commerce, and Possible Adulteration …
(5) Control of information concerning product expiration in terms of sell-by-date
or expiration dates (generally, the ‘shelf life’ information).
Many of these instruments are based on reliable ‘traceability’ systems. Traceability
issues are certainly interesting when speaking of safety risks and correlated analyses
at least, including shelf life information, according to the Parisi’s First Law of Food
Degradation
1 (FNCF 2020; Parisi 2002a, b, 2003, 2004, 2012, 2013, 2016; Srivastava
2019; Volpe et al. 2015). On the other hand, it has to be always remembered that
authenticity concerns are strictly related to food frauds and related gains.
As discussed in Chap. 1, yerba mate adulteration episodes and related researches
do not show worrying trends in the last decade. However, and based on the European
Union (EU) Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) Consumers’ Portal,
publicly available on the web (https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/rasff-window/consum
ers/), we can signal that the possibility of yerba mate-related frauds can exist … and
with a certain variety (European Commission 2020a, b).
Consequently, there is need of accurate and reliable traceability information
concerning this product, also because of the possible packaging and labelling in
non-South American countries. A deep analysis of selected scientific references and
above-discussed RASFF Notifications can give the following directions (Crighton
et al. 2019; Kucharska-Ambro˙ zej and Karpinska 2020; Lima 2019; Marcelo et al.
2014; Porcari et al. 2016; Poswal et al. 2019; Preti 2019; Santos et al. 2020; Schneider
2017; Schneider et al. 2018; Sniechowski and Paul 2008; Trentanni Hansen et al.
2019; Vieira et al. 2020):
(1) Undeclared and fraudulent addition of carbohydrates: saccharose, glucose, and
fructose. Reason: sensorial enhancement for expired or low-quality yerba mate
products.
(2) Fraudulent identification of origin concerning yerba mate products. Reason:
economic gain obtained by claiming incorrect geographical origin for yerba
mate
(3) Fraudulent addition and mixing of I. paraguariensis with other Ilex species.
Reasons; economic gain because of the addition of cheap raw materials
(4) Fraudulent labelling in terms of mandatory and facultative information to the
consumer.
These options rely on the modification or misrepresentation of one or more of the
following information (because food authenticity and its contrary, food fraud, are
always linked to information):
(1) Name of the food
(2) Brand
(3) Product identification
(4) Lot identification
(5) List of ingredients
1 This Law states that ‘There are not foods which are not subjected over time to a progressive
transformation of their chemical, physical, organoleptic, microbiological, and structural features.