Is your food "authentic"?

In Europe, "adulterated" and genetically modified foods are tough issues. In the 1990s when it was revealed that some olive oil producers were adding hazelnut, soybean, and other oils to their products in order to increase production the E.U. commissioned an "antifraud task force" to study the issue.

In the past the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method has been used to study the DNA sequences in foods, but a new and possibly more precise technique has been developed. Peptide nucleic acids (PCAs) have hydrogen bonding purine and pyrimidine bases like DNA. Their backbones, however, are more similar to protein structures. Similar to the starter sequences used in PCR, PCA molecules can bind to DNA strands selectively. PCA methods may be more precise because they are shorter sequences of base pairs.

So do we really care if our tomatoes or olives come from a certain region? Well, that's a personal call. But PNAs will definitely find their way into food industry research.


Source: Everts, Sarah. "Authenticating Food". Chemical & Engineering News. February 2, 2009.