the paper Fighting Food Fraud by Marc Reisch It was publishe

the paper \"Fighting Food Fraud\" by Marc Reisch.

It was published in Chemical & Engineering News, August 25, 2014, page 8.

-What is the test kit for detecting horse meat based on? Why is it wrong to eat horse meat? Or is it?

-How is seafood adulterated? How are the fakes exposed?

-Why is honey adulterated/forged? What is the detection method?

-How is milk adulterated? Why? What are the hazards which may occur due to adulteration Detection methods?

Solution

1. The test kit for detection of horse meat is based on tests performed on the mitochondria of the meat sample with a special kind of DNA which is a trade secret. First the mitochondria of the sample is extracted and then centrifuged. Then various tests are performed to recognise the RNA in the sample which is similar to the DNA. Then comparing the results, we can know if there is any adulteration and of what concentration.

It is wrong to eat horse meat because of the taboo surrounding the slaughter of horses. But if you look at the nutritional level it is actually good to intake horse meat than beef. It contains more proteins and less fats and also a high content of iron. Also horses usually don\'t receive antibiotics and other hormones which cows or other meat products are regularly dosed with. Also they have less obesogens compared to other animals who are fed with highly processed diet, thus leading to less chance of obesity.

2. Sea foods especially fishes are hard to recognise even by experts. Thus many times high priced foods replaced with low priced sea foods for maximising profits. Of course some may be unintentional, but most are for increasing profit.

The fakes are hard to recognise even by trained by experts. But using a technique called real time PCR we can compare DNA results in just 1-2 hours.

3. Honey is very sought after by health conscious people and general people as well for its various medicinal properties. But honey extraction is a costly process, thus people come up with adulteration to reduce the costs.

The detection method is simple and can be done at home as well. Simply try to dissolve a spoonful of sample of honey in water. Pure honey settles at the bottom whereas impure honey dissolves in water. And of course there are industrial as well as laboratory techniques as well to check purity of honey.

4. Milk is adulterated by mixing excess of water, soaps, acids, sugars, starch, and other chemicals like formalin. This is done mainly to increase shelf life of milk as well as increasing the amount of milk and thus profits.

Hazards that may occur are:-

(1). Hormonal imbalance in our body.

(2). Increases chance of cancer or skin and eye disorder due to high formalin concentration.

(3). It may also lead to various stomach related disease and disorders.