July 18, 2005

New Zealand finds breakthrough in beef tracing

New Zealand scientists have found a way to trace specific meat patties back to their original batch sources, said the country's largest Crown Research Institute, AgResearch, on Jul 18.

The breakthrough came four years after the introduction of the easiTrace DNA system that traces the origins of meat cuts back to the farm source.

So far, countries have been only been applying traceability and labelling legislation and regulations to meat cuts. Full traceability of compound products, however, is exempt or merely limited to identifying the country of origin.

Lead scientist Grant Shackell said it was a challenge trying to match samples where there many different DNA profiles together.

The new process can now match samples containing ingredients from up to 40 different animals back to their batch source, Shackell said. Soon, a beef patty from anywhere in the world can also be traced.

So far, this method has proven reliable as scientists have been able to track beef patties to the right source using this new method, not only on the day of production but even some days afterwards. Mock samples from a shipment to Japan have also been identified to the right production batch, even though some samples have been deliberately mislabelled.

The breakthrough means that manufacturers and suppliers can use the technology to ensure the integrity of their product, Shackell said.

With this new technique, whole shipments of meat or other meat processors need not be implicated in food safety scares involving only a small portion of meat or just one meat processor.