Susanne Kuehne, Decernis
Food Fraud Quick Bites

All Bison, No Bull

By Susanne Kuehne
No Comments
Susanne Kuehne, Decernis

A combination of analytical methods identifies additions to bison meat products.

Bison
Find records of fraud such as those discussed in this column and more in the Food Fraud Database. Image credit: Susanne Kuehne

Bison and other game meats have become increasingly popular over the course of the past years, and these products have enjoyed an increase in pricing as a result. Bison, deer and beef meats have very similar appearances; in addition, bison and domestic cattle can cross-breed and therefore the meat cannot be distinguished by DNA barcoding alone. To ensure that bison meat was not mixed with other red meat species, a specific polymerase chain reaction method (PCR-SFLP) was used in a recently published study. Out of 45 commercial bison meat samples, three samples showed other meat species, which were not identified on the label.

Resource

  1. Scales, Z.M., et al. (February 3, 2021). “Use of DNA Barcoding Combined with PCR-SFLP to Authenticate Species in Bison Meat Products”. MDPI.

 

About The Author

Susanne Kuehne, Decernis

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

For security, use of Google's reCAPTCHA service is required which is subject to the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.