Thursday, 01 December 2011

• Restaurants + DNA + Barcodes = Huh?

  

  I stumbled upon this interesting article from Huffington Post about how restaurants will soon be using DNA technology to assure diners they are eating the correct fish fillet or caviar they ordered, rather than a cheaper substitute. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved DNA barcoding to prevent mislabeling of locally produced and important seafood in the U.S.

  The restaurant industry and seafood suppliers have been extremely interested about using this new technology as a way to certify the authenticity of their delicacies. When a customer buys an expensive fish, they want the customer to believe they are truly getting what they paid for.

  Mislabeling in the seafood industry is fairly common and in most cases, cheaper types of fish are being sold as more expensive types. In 2007, many people became seriously ill from eating illegally important toxic pufferfish from China. It had been mislabeled as monkfish to pass through U.S. import restrictions.

  What do you think of this article? Does it change your opinion about buying fish?

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