Experts in verifying raw materials by DNA barcoding
Food raw materials verification service
Accurate species identification is a crucial step in the detection of species substitution and mislabelling in the food industry, which in turn is essential to guarantee food quality and safety. However, species identification may be particularly difficult when food products are highly processed (e.g., minced, pulverised, canned, or smoked) and they lack distinctive morphological characters.
DNA barcoding has become the gold standard approach for species-level identification. By sequencing and analysing a standard genomic region, DNA barcoding enables the identification of samples where traditional morphological methods are not effective. As an example, DNA barcoding has been adopted by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the authentication of fish-based commercial products (Handy et al. 2011).
At AllGenetics, we have developed robust operating procedures for food traceability through DNA barcoding, which can be applied to a wide diversity of foodstuff (seafood, meat, edible plants, fungi, algae, dairy products…) and a broad range of starting materials. Our raw materials verification service is a reliable, rapid, and cost-effective tool which may be routinely implemented to:
- Authenticate raw materials.
- Track adulterations or contaminations along the food chain supply.
- Certify the quality of the finished product.
Step 1
We isolate DNA from your food samples.
Step 2
We amplify the genomic region of interest (the DNA barcode) using universal or in-house-developed primer pairs.
Step 3
We sequence the PCR products in both directions.
Step 4
We analyse the electropherograms obtained and compare the resulting sequences against reference databases to find the matching species.
What you receive
What we need
Your samples appropriately preserved depending on the sample type (ethanol, silica gel, frozen, or another suitable preservation method). If required, we provide sampling kits and sampling collection guidelines to ensure that your samples arrive at our lab in optimal conditions. Please note that different sample matrices may have different requirements for sample preservation and input sample amount. Please contact us for the specific requirements of your project.