Apply DNA fingerprinting to food products.

A variety of DNA-based techniques developed over the last decade are able to identify and type organisms. These techniques can generate a DNA profile of every individual human, animal, plant or microorganism. In the early 1990s, researchers at Keygene developed and patented a DNA fingerprint process known as AFLP[R].

The AFLP technology has since become one of the most popular genetic fingerprinting techniques for the genetic analysis of plants, micro-organisms and animals. This genetic fingerprinting technology is based on the selective restriction and selective amplification of DNA fragments. Its unique advantage: The technique results in a highly informative fingerprint of up to 100 bands with genetic information, yet does not require prior sequence information. The technology is most commonly used for genetic diversity analyses, variety identification and the marker-assisted breeding of plants, animals and micro-organisms.

Now we begin to see that the AFLP technology is finding new applications in the food industry. Examples of such applications include:

Product identification. Based on found genetic similarities or differences, a product's identity can be established. The technology therefore makes it possible to distinguish raw materials or products from different suppliers. This is especially of interest for high-value products, such as Basmati rice and Arabica coffee, that cannot always be easily and reliably distinguished from inferior varieties.

Genetic diversity analyses. The technology can also be applied for the genetic diversity analysis of varieties of a certain product. AFLP fingerprints have, for example, been applied in the genetic diversity analysis of wine cultivars. The results showed that some varieties consisted of more than one genetically distinct variety, and that varieties that had been considered distinct were genetically identical. Such an analysis is interesting for many crops and forms the basis for the analysis of variations in product quality.

Traceability testing. In the meat industry, AFLP technology can be used for traceability testing. A comparison of a fingerprint of a cow's ear and the fingerprint of meat products will show whether the two samples originate from the same animal.

Keygene carries out AFLP fingerprinting as a service. Patent. 6,045,994--Selective restriction fragment amplification: fingerprinting. Issued April 4, 2000. Inventors: Marc Zabeau and Pieter Vos. Assigned to Keygene N.V. The technology involves a process for the controlled amplification of at least one part of a starting DNA containing a plurality of restriction sites for a determined specific restriction endonuclease, and of which at least part of its nucleic acid is unknown.

Further information. Max van Min, Keygene NV, P.O. Box 216, 6700 AE Wageningen, The Netherlands; phone: [phone]; fax: [phone]; email: [e-mail].