DNA Test Identifies Animal Species in Food Products

摘要

It's not always easy to identify a contaminating species in food. Animal meats often undergo a tremendous amount of processing before being sold as the final food product on supermarket shelves. The end product rarely resembles its whole animal predecessor, making it extremely difficult to distinguish between species that might be present, often allowing contamination to go undetected and food authenticity to go unchecked. The presence of unwanted or unknown animal species in food can have a range ofeffects from benign to deathly serious and is of great concern for public health, economic, religious, and legal reasons. For example, identifying species composition is important to prevent allergic reactions to certain animal products. Unknowingly ingesting a particular allergen can be a serious health danger. Additionally, the unknown presence of any animal ingredients in a vegetarian food may cause individuals to unknowingly violate their belief system. And substitution of an inferior animal species in a food product, often referred to as "food fraud," has both economic and legal ramifications.