November 16, 2007

 

GenoMar achieves breakthrough in fish traceability in Singapore

 

 

Genomar SEA, the Singaporean branch of the Norwegian company GenoMar AS (GenoMar), has become the first company in the world to use DNA fingerprinting to verify the origin of farmed fish in a commercial operation, according to  a press release issued by the company.

 

The GenTrack System has successfully been used in a trial that shows a level of traceability previously dismissed by academia and big industry players as unrealistic or even impossible to obtain.

 

With help of the Singapore government's  Economic Development Board (EDB), GenoMar SEA based in Singapore has for the past two years been developing the GenTrack System that sought to protect responsible producers from measures aimed at curbing imports from irresponsible players in the industry.

 

The GenTrack System is the first system in the world that is able to provide physical evidence of a products origin without physical tagging or introduction of any trace chemicals. The system uses DNA fingerprinting to analyze samples taken from different parts of an Aquaculture production line, from the seeds to the farming in ponds or cages and finally the processing and sales. DNA fingerprinting gives a very exact verification of origin of all samples collected and fake products are easily spotted.

 

The commercial trial in which the system has been tested involved tilapia fry produced at the GenoMar R&D facilities in Sembawang, Singapore. These fry were sent to the island of Hainan in southern China to be grown in ponds operated by the Chinese branch of GenoMar. The tilapias were grown in two big ponds and harvested in early November this year. The fish were filleted in a processing factory in Hainan with a small portion of the frozen fillets being shipped back to Singapore.

 

Samples were collected from all parts of the production line, from the fry in Singapore before shipping to China, from the fish while growing in ponds in China, from the harvest and from the fillets after processing. Finally samples were collected in Singapore from the frozen fillets that were returned from China.

 

Samples collected from the production line have shown a very high level of positive identification, more than 98% of tested fish and fillets have proven to be genuine products; they initially come from the GenoMar hatchery in Singapore. The few foreign tilapia products that were observed in the trial stood out very clearly from the rest, illustrating the power of the system in contrasting between genuine products and foreign intrusions.

 

The GenTrack System has a wide range of applications and is expected to play a leading role in redefining the way traceability of aquatic products is done as well as opening the door for applications that have only briefly been explored. One particularly useful example is to search for DNA signatures of harmful bacteria and viruses within the collected samples; this can be done simultaneously with the ordinary DNA fingerprinting.

 

The trial was conducted in collaboration with an independent third party in Singapore and is one of the final milestones in an ongoing review of the GenTrack System. All DNA fingerprinting is carried out by the Temasek Lifesciences Laboratory in Singapore.

 

About GenoMar South East Asia Pte Ltd

 

GenoMar SEA is a subsidiary of GenoMar AS Norway's leading and one of the world's leading life science companies specializing in aquatic species. The company was established in 1996 by its founder Professor Oystein Lie. The main shareholder of GenoMar is the Norwegian business magnate Fred Olsen, best known from his involvement in Shipping and the Timex Company.

 

GenoMar applies marine genomics to enhance margins and to establish sustainable frameworks for the aquaculture industry. Nature's own tag, the DNA Fingerprint, is used for instant and online pedigree information in breeding programs. The founders of GenoMar also envisioned a genetic traceability system for verification of origin of seafood. The concept, named GenTrack and currently under development in Singapore, can trace seafood from egg to plate or from plate to its origin and it represents the ultimate tool for verification of information in existing traceability systems, thus enhancing food safety regimes.