MinION sequencing of seafood in Singapore reveals creatively labelled flatfishes, confused roe, pig DNA in squid balls, and phantom crustaceans

摘要: Abstract Food mislabelling is a growing world-wide problem that increasingly addressed through the authentication of ingredients via techniques like mass spectrometry or DNA-sequencing. However, traditional DNA sequencing methods are slow, expensive, and require well-equipped laboratories. We here test whether these problems can be overcome use Nanopore sequencing. sequenced 92 single 13 mixed-species samples bought in supermarkets restaurants Singapore which has large diverse seafood trade. successfully obtained barcodes for 94% 100% single- products after correcting numerous errors MinION reads with correction pipeline optimized barcodes. find comparatively low levels clear-cut single-species (7.6 %) while rates higher (38.5 %). These somewhat deceptive, however, because widespread vague common species names do not allow precise assessment expected ingredients. With regard to clearly mislabelled products, higher-value (e.g., prawn roe, wild-caught Atlantic salmon, halibut) replaced lower-value fish Pacific arrowtooth flounder) more serious observed samples. Cuttlefish balls repeatedly contained pig all mixed labelled as containing crustaceans (‘crab’, ‘prawn’, ‘lobster’) only yielded conclude there need regular testing suggest due speed low-cost, would good instrument this purpose. also emphasize developing clearer labelling guidelines.