DIN EN 16466-3:2013-03

The European Standards EN 16466-1 to 3 are been based on an international collaborative study of the three analyses published in Analytica Chimica Acta 649 (2009) 98-105, and organised under the auspices of the Permanent International Vinegar Committee (CPIV, Brussels). These analyses have been prepared with the aim to check the authenticity of vinegar. Vinegar in accordance with EN 13188:2000 is defined as vinegar solution produced by double fermentation that is the transformation of sugars into ethanol and the transformation of ethanol into acedic acid. Both the ethanol and the acetic acid should be obtained by a biotechnological process. Synthetic acedic acids obtained from either from petroleum derivatives or the pyrolysis of wood, are suitable for adulteration of high-quality fermentation vinegars, however. The use of lower-cost products is not permitted, causes economic distortions in the marketing and may lead to health risks if hazardous substances are used. The control of the authenticity of vinegar is therefore an important aspect with respect to consumer protection and fair trading. Part 1 and Part 2 specify isotopic methods for detection of the authenticity of vinegar. Those two methods are applicable to fermentation vinegar (from wine, cider, agricultural alcohol, etcetera) in order to characterise in combination of both methods the botanical origin of acidic acid and to detect adulterations of vinegar using synthetic acetic acid. Part 3 specifies another isotopic method for detection of the authenticity of vinegar. This method is applicable on wine vinegar in order to characterise the ¹⁸/O/¹⁶O ratio of water, and allows differentiating wine vinegar from vinegars made from raisins. The methods have been proposed by the Permanent International Vinegar Committee (CPIV, Brussels) and has been submitted for approval on the CEN level within the context of the Primary Questionnaire (PQ procedure). The responsible European standardization committee is CEN/TC SS 01 "Food products", the secretariat of which is held by the CCMC. The responsible German standardization committee is Working Committee NA 057-05-03 AA "Essig" ("Vinegar") of the Food and Agricultural Products Standards Committee (NAL).