Page 75 - CB1.3 Genetic Varation sciPAD

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CB 1.3 GENETIC VARIATION
USING KNOWLEDGE OF GENETICS
DNA Barcoding and Food Fraud
Food fraud is the name given to the process of intentionally mislabelling food for financial
gain. DNA barcoding technology allows food safety investigators to identify when food fraud is
occurring. Scientists have created online databases such as the iBOL Library, which contains the
DNA barcodes of over 1 million species. Food fraud investigators can then take samples of a food
product, like a beef patty, sequence the DNA to obtain a barcode from the product, and then
compare this barcode to the beef barcode in the database to see if it only contains beef.
Rig Shark
Permitted
species
Sample
Unknown
species
School Shark
Permitted
species
Spiny Dogfish
Permitted
species
Blue Shark
Permitted
species
Hammerhead
Protected
species
Shortfin Mako
Protected
species
?
Horse Meat Burgers
in 2013, UK food safety investigators found
that up to 30% of the “beef” in frozen burger
patties for sale in UK supermarkets was
actually horse meat.
Fish Substitution
Studies in the USA and Europe have found
that up to a quarter of expensive fish species
for sale in supermarkets and restaurants are
actually cheaper, inferior species.
NZ Mānuka Honey
Mānuka honey is a premium New Zealand
export fetching high prices. Investigations
have found regular honey labelled as
‘mānuka honey’ both here and overseas.
1. Except for seven protected species, many types of shark are fished commercially in New
Zealand, and are often sold to fish and chip shops. However, The Ministry for Primary
Industries (MPI) is concerned some protected shark species, such as the shortfin mako
and hammerhead shark, are being caught and mislabelled as a commercial species. MPI
investigators have asked you to analyse a DNA barcode from a sample of “fish” taken
from a fish and chip shop to see if it is from a protected shark species.
Fold your page so you can overlay the sample barcode against the six barcodes from
various shark species to identify the species of the sample.
The species of shark being sold at this fish and chip shop is: 

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