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The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) and commercial laboratory Identigen have developed a new DNA scanning tool. It can identify all the ingredients of a food and their biological sources. The aim is to prevent food fraud and the use of misleading labelling.
The scanner uses “next generation sequencing” to compare actual ingredients in a food with those declared on the label. Before now, DNA testing of food required analysts to know what they wanted to look for specifically and then test for it – such target information is no longer a pre-requisite.
The old system of targeted DNA analysis was used by the FSAI in discovering horsemeat in beef products. It is now possible to scan the entire DNA content of a food without any prior knowledge or suspicion of what may or may not be present in that food.
Next Generation DNA Sequencing (NGS) is the basis of the new DNA food scanning tool and has been applied successfully by the FSAI to screen 45 plant-based foods and food supplements from Irish health food shops and supermarkets. It looked for the presence of all plant species in the selected products and identified 14 food products of interest that may contain undeclared plant species.
Of the 14 products selected for further investigation, one was confirmed to contain undeclared mustard at significant levels. Mustard is one of the 14 food allergenic ingredients that must be declared in all foods under EU and Irish food law. Another product (oregano) was found to contain DNA from two undeclared plant species, one at significant levels. A third product was found to have no DNA from the plant species declared on the label, but instead rice DNA was identified. All three products are under further investigation.
“It is important to understand that any results of the initial scan will always need to be corroborated by more established analytical techniques,” Dr Pat O’Mahony, chief specialist, food science and technology at FSAI said. “Being able to scan the entire DNA content of a food means that it will be difficult to substitute or hide an ingredient of biological origin without it being detected. The plan is that in the future, the FSAI will apply the same technology for the screening of meat, poultry and fish products.”
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