Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Spray-on DNA Bar Codes Help Trace Food-Borne Illnesses



Tracing the origin of contamination has been difficult to do in the past, considering there are a variety of places this can take place. DNATrek in California has decided to create an efficient solution to tracking down where contamination takes place before the customer gets the chance to feel symptoms. In the labs of DNATrek, a variety of safe food-to-eat additive liquids were combined with a unique DNA sequence. The spraying of this unique liquid formulation can be used if an outbreak occurs by using polymerase chain reaction technology to decipher the barcode and backtrack where the food was grown and it's travel route. Scientists would get this information in approximately 20 minutes. This solution is not only efficient but in-expensive as well, costing $1 for spray to last 1,000 pounds of produce. This liquid is in the process of testing for safety and DNATrek intends on extracting DNA from natural substances such as seaweed.

This product could save money spent on treating food-borne illnesses and most importantly many lives. I hope that the public and industry members grow to love this product because if proven truly safe and successful, this product could really take off. Farms strive to grow food that customers want to be sure they are safe for consuming and I believe this is the perfect solution.

Main Article: http://www.geneticliteracyproject.org/2014/11/14/spray-on-dna-bar-codes-help-trace-food-borne-illnesses/

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