Dive Brief:
- Incidents like Europe's highly publicized horse meat scandal are creating a demand for higher sensitivity meat testing within the food industry.
- More companies are calling for DNA tests, which can catch lower levels of cross-contamination, and according to Campden BRI authenticity team leader Steve Garrett, demand for the firm's meat testing service saw a significant increase during the scandal.
- Immunoassay tests are commonly used to catch cross-contamination via certain proteins, hormones, and antibodies, but they don't always reach benchmarks like the U.K. Food Standards Agency's recommended testing at levels less than 1.0%.
Dive Insight:
Aside from supply line issues, the horse meat scandal called into question the regulatory processes put in place to prevent such problems in the first place. Upholding stricter testing standards via more stringent testing abilities could certainly take things a step further in preventing embarrassing headlines, recalls, and more. These issues aren't just restricted to the West, either: China is no stranger to adulterated meat scandals and South Africa has allegedly had issues with donkey, goat, and water buffalo meat being wrongly labeled.