Development of quantitative and qualitative molecular biological methods to identify plant and animal species in foods
Project acronym: MOLSPEC-ID
Funded by: EC
Funded under: FP5-LIFE QUALITY
Project ID: QLK1-CT-2001-02373
From 2001 to 2004
Total cost: EUR 2 469 153
EU contribution: EUR 1 395 014
Coordinated by: BfR (Germany)
Objectives
Recent investigations demonstrated that fraudulent replacement of food components as well as adverse reaction to unexpected food ingredients is quite common problems. Up to now official methods for the detection of plant and animal species in foods are exclusively based on protein analysis. The project aims to develop DNA-analytical methods for qualitative and quantitative identification of plant and animal species in foods to monitor product safety and tractability. The project includes the comparison of nucleic acid-based methods with protein-based ones. A research aspect will be enhancing throughput by introducing multiplex-PCR, PCR-ELISA and chip technology. Four methods for several species will be validated in interlaboratory studies. Furthermore a public database will be established containing information about methods to identify plant and animal species in foods.
