Evaluation of DNA barcoding to facilitate the authentication of processed fish products in the seafood industry

Abstract

Fish species substitution in the seafood industry has become a worldwide economic issue recently. Such economic fraud will cause food safety implications, especially on community health. We report here validation results of fish product authentication by utilizing the DNA Barcoding with comparative observation between common full DNA Barcode (FDB) and Mini DNA Barcode (MDB) primers. Overall, the majority of the products collected from local and international supply gave only a general description of the package with less or no information on taxonomic details. All samples were successfully extracted but only 21% of samples were amplified by FDB primer sets while 47% of samples were amplified by MDB. Mislabeled products were detected for the sample that had been substituted between valuable and non-profit fish species (threadfin vs lizardfish), indistinguishable fish fillet (salmon vs trout) and sushi roe (prawn vs fish). Informative labeling will contribute to improved traceability of seafood, especially for fisheries products. Future improvement of molecular-based authentication systems such as DNA Barcoding should be prioritized to identify potential sources of fish fraud as well as minimize the risk of receiving fraudulent or adulterated ingredients.