Due to the ever-increasing variety of plant and animal species being traded in commerce around the world, proper species identification is proving to be a critical component of the FDA's mission of assuring US consumers that the food they eat is both safe and properly labeled.  These data can be combined with additional chemical, or microbiological methods to make a more complete story, or be used directly to help protect consumers.  Species identification is particularly challenging in processed food products where traditional diagnostic characters used to identify species visually have been removed. Previous methods for species identification of processed food products used techniques such as isoelectric focusing of proteins or analysis of fatty acids, but advances in DNA sequencing technology have made this once complicated and expensive process more affordable and amenable to standardization and validation and therefore useful in the regulatory arena.  We have standardized and validated a DNA based method for fish species identification and have now transitioned this method to nine FDA field laboratories allowing the FDA to combat the growing problem of seafood misbranding.  To be presented will be a cross section of the DNA based species identification methods to support FDA regulatory investigations, including seafood safety, illegal importations, and most recently in FDA efforts to determine the cause of taste disturbances associated with the consumption of imported pine nuts.

DNA-based species identification in support of food safety at the FDA

244th National Meeting (2012)

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