Fake Kakadu plum powder identified

Following National Reconciliation Week, ANSTO shares research recently published in the journal Food control which confirms that fraudulent Kakadu plum extracts are circulating online and in the international market.

The Kakadu plum sector is an emerging Australian industry and is an important economic and cultural asset for indigenous communities in northern Australia. The market value of Kakadu plum in Australia is expected to increase from $1.6 million to $3.5 million by 2025 due to its health benefits and versatility.

A provenance validation approach developed by ANSTO and partners could be used to safeguard authentic Kakadu plum extracts and help protect the industry in the international market.

Ongoing research in association with the Northern Australian Kakadu Plum Alliance (NAAKPA), which represents Aboriginal growers in the Northern Territory and Western Australia, is enabling genuine growers to monitor and protect the sector.

NAAKPA provided the authentic samples for the study, welcomed the publication of the results which confirmed the suspicions and provided scientific evidence of fraudulent products circulating in the international market.

ANSTO generated distinct signatures, known as iso-elemental fingerprints, for individual Alliance producers. A fingerprint, based on isotopic and elemental profile, is unique to a specific location and can vary even between adjacent harvest areas.

The data is added to a reference database to help identify the future provenance of the fruit. The technology was also used to validate extracts produced from their ingredient, Kakadu plum.

In this study, investigators used stable isotope analysis and X-ray fluorescence elemental profiling to assess the authenticity of 13 commercially available Kakadu plum powder samples purchased online from Australian and overseas suppliers, and compared them to four powder samples directly provided by First Nations harvesters.

All powders supplied overseas as part of the study were counterfeit and did not come from Kakadu plum.

Lead author Mariel Keaney was supervised by Professor of Environmental Science Neil Saintilan from Macquarie University, where she was studying, Professor Jes Sammut from UNSW, Dr Mazumder and the Food Provenance Team of ANSTO.

“Applying a scientific traceability method will help protect the emerging Kakadu plum industry and ensure that First Nations communities receive the benefits of commercialization,” said Paul Saeki, CEO of NAAKPA.

Read the full results here.

Image credit: www.iStock.com/Iryna Zaichenko