Development of a DNA-based method aimed at identifying the fish species present in food products

Abstract

5 páginas, 2 figuras, 3 tablas.-- Georgina L. Hold ... et al.Analysis of restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) profiles of a 464 bp amplicon obtained from the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene was used to differentiate between several different fish species. The method was tested by a collaborative study in which 12 European laboratories participated to ascertain whether the method was reproducible. Each laboratory was required to identify 10 unknown samples by comparison with RFLP profiles from authentic species. From a total of 120 tests performed, unknown samples were correctly identified in 96% of cases. Further work attempting to use the method to analyze mixed and processed fish samples was also performed. In all cases the species contained within mixed samples were correctly identified, indicating the efficacy of the method for detecting fraudulent substitution of fish species in food productsThis research was supported by a Grant from the EU, FAIR CT97-3061, and MAFF Contract ANO690, with institute facilities kindly provided by the Scottish Executive Rural Affairs Department (SERAD)Peer reviewe