Yorkshire scientists could hold key to preventing future horsemeat scandals

Scientists in York have developed technology which allows people to authenticate the exact provenance of food and are set to roll it out to retailers worldwide from this month.

The technique, Stable Isotope Reference Analysis (SIRA), has a background in forensic science and archeology and uses laboratory analysis to test the declared origin of food virtually down to postal code level.

The technology has been developed by Agroisolab UK, a subsidiary of Longhand Data in York, and has been eight years in the making.

Alongside a German firm, Agroisolab GmbH, the new science will allow retailers to cost-effectively test the country of origin for a wide range of meat and grocery products, including all agricultural produce such as pork, beef, eggs, vegetables and fruit, which have either been grazed or grown on the land.

The horse-gate food scandal, which rocked British supermarkets three years ago, focused the attention of retailers on being able to irrefutably confirm the nature of the products they buy.

Longhand Data managing director, Roger Young, a biologist and former corporate farmer, said: “When we buy meat or other products, we have a legal right to know that what we are buying is correctly labelled.”

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