Identification of marine mammal species in food products

Abstract

Reference samples and processed products (frozen, smoked, salted, dried and gravad meat and blubber) from harp seal and minke, sei and fin whales were tested for species-diagnostic molecular markers by random amplification of polymorphic DNA (RAPD) and single-strand conformational polymorphism (SSCP) analysis of amplicons obtained using consensus primers for mitochondrial cytochrome b (mt cytb). RAPD analysis produced clear fingerprints of the products analysed from which the species could be easily identified. The interpretation of the SSCP analysis was less clear, probably owing to the use of consensus primers and, in fin whales, to intraspecific polymorphism. Except for one, all the commercial products were correctly labelled, and it was possible to identify the species in all the products labelled simply as 'whale': three of them contained minke whale and two fin whale.