Sunday, March 14, 2010

It's Not What You Think Your Eating

I saw this on the news tonight. Fox News reported about New York High School students that did a science project about food. The question at hand was, is the food we eat really what it says it is? They worked with a NY University to extract DNA of their samples. What did they find?

1. A product labeled "anchovy" came back as Protosalanx chinensis, which is actually not anchovy but a type of smelt fish.

2. One item was labeled "red snapper," but the DNA testing showed it was Lutjanus malabaricus, which is actually a different type of fish called the Malabar blood.

3. At a specialty store, a product labeled "sheep's milk cheese" was tested and proven to be cheese made with cow's milk.

4. Another item labeled "sturgeon caviar" was tested and the DNA came back as Plyodon spathula, a fish commonly known as the Mississippi paddlefish.

5. "Pacific Ocean smelt" was what was advertised in the store, but the DNA testing proved it was actually Odontesthes gracilis. It is not smelt, but a silverside family of fish.

6. "Frozen yellow catfish" DNA tested as Odontesthes gracilis. According to the fish database, this is not yellow catfish.

7. A dog treat labeled as "venison" (deer meat) tested as beef.

8. A fish sample that was labeled "mackerel" was tested and came back as Sardinella atricauda, a fish commonly known as Bleeker's black tip sardinella.

9. One product that was labeled "Jewfish" came back with DNA that showed it was actually Nemipterus furcosus, a fish commonly known as fork-tail threadfin bream.

10. A product labeled in Chinese translated to "Branchiostoma lancelet amphioxus, but DNA tests proved it was Salangichthys microdon, a fish commonly known as Japanese ice fish.

Yes, a lot of fish, but you can click here to see their full study.

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