Genetic markers help trace meat from farm to fork
A test that can be used to confirm the breed and origin of meat from farm animals has been developed by scientists at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain.
The test, which was developed in collaboration with Applied Biosystems and is described in the December 2007 issue of the scientific journal Animal Genetics, uses a number of specific genetic markers to identify individual animals and will prove useful in providing meat traceability.
Meat traceability is an important prerequisite for consumer safety, particularly in the event of infectious disease outbreak or accidental feed contamination. It is also becoming increasingly important in investigating the authenticity of origin claims.
EU regulations concerning animal production chains are becoming more stringent, with greater emphasis on being able to demonstrate exactly where animals have been raised, slaughtered and sold for consumption. However, reliable, rapid and cost-effective molecular tools for animal identification, were previously not available.
Professor Armand Sánchez and his colleagues from the Department of Animal and Food Sciences, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, and scientists from Applied Biosystems have developed a panel of 46 genetic markers which relate to an animal’s DNA sequence.
These markers were used to identify pigs from five different purebred lines that are of major commercial importance. The patterns in each pig’s sample allowed the scientists to identify individual pigs and their parentage for each of the five breeds examined.
“We have established that 46 SNPs [single nucleotide polymorphisms] are sufficient to identify individual pigs, using the SNPlex technique, with absolute confidence,” said Dr Sánchez, professor of genetics at the university.
The tests could also be useful for animal breeders and farmers who wish to identify genetic markers associated with particularly desirable traits in terms of meat quality and flavour and could be adapted for identification and traceability in other animal species, such as sheep, cows and poultry, it is claimed.
The Food Standards Agency's Authenticity Programme is organising a one-day seminar on the February 11 2008 on the analytical tools available and those being developed to detect food fraud and misdescription of products.
The seminar will report the development and use of modern methods to uncover where there is deliberate misdescription for financial gain in the UK and Europe. It will look at existing and developing methods to combat food fraud, as well as give participants the opportunity to share experiences and raise potential issues of fraud in industry.
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