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Review Articles

DNA barcoding: a modern age tool for detection of adulteration in food

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Pages 767-791 | Received 14 Apr 2020, Accepted 07 Jan 2021, Published online: 02 Feb 2021
 

Abstract

Globalization of the food trade requires precise and exact information about the origin, methods of production, transformation technologies, authentication, and the traceability of foodstuffs. New challenges in food supply chains such as deliberate fraudulent substitution, tampering or mislabeling of food and its ingredients or food packaging incapacitates the market and eventually the national economy. Currently, no proper standards have been established for the authentication of most of the food materials. However, in order to control food fraud, various robust and cost-effective technologies have been employed, like a spectrophotometer, GC-MS, HPLC, and DNA barcoding. Among these techniques, DNA barcoding is a biotechnology advantage with the principle of using 400–800 bp long standardized unique DNA sequences of mitochondrial (e.g. COI) or plastidial (e.g. rbcL) of nuclear origin (e.g. ITS) to analyze and classify the food commodities. This review covers several traded food commodities like legumes, seafood, oils, herbal products, spices, fruits, cereals, meat, and their unique barcodes which are critically analyzed to detect adulteration or fraud. DNA barcoding is a global initiative and it is being accepted as a global standard/marker for species identification or authentication. The research laboratories and industries should collaborate to realize its potential in setting standards for quality assurance, quality control, and food safety for different food products.

Acknowledgment

We are extremely grateful to Prof. Kareem Mosa, Department of Applied Biology, College of Sciences, University of Sharjah, the United Arab Emirates for his thorough revision of this review with invaluable suggestions and for providing us with .

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

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