A case study on DNA barcoding for pet food mislabeling in South Korea


Submitted: 8 December 2022
Accepted: 12 January 2023
Published: 8 March 2023
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Due to the close relationship between pets and humans, pet owners are highly invested in proper diets for their pets. Even though pet food mislabeling is concerning, there are few studies on this topic. This study investigated pet food mislabeling in South Korea’s market based on DNA barcoding. In total, 10 pet food products were purchased, and 200 sequences of the partial Cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (COI) gene were generated from clones of the samples. The obtained sequences were compared to available public databases to identify species present in the ingredients. The data analyses showed that the labeled species were consistent with species detected by COI sequences in 6 of the products. However, the expected species were not detected in 4 products, revealing possible mislabeling in these samples. Our findings indicated that DNA barcoding might represent a promising tool to detect pet food mislabeling.


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Thinh Dinh Do, Department of Biotechnology, Sangmyung University, Seoul

Institute of Marine Environment and Resources, Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, Hai Phong, Vietnam 

Supporting Agencies

This study was funded by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) under grant No. NRF-2016M3A9E1915578.

1.
Lee D, Do TD, Baek J-W, Mun M-H, An H-E, Kim C-B. A case study on DNA barcoding for pet food mislabeling in South Korea. Ital J Food Safety [Internet]. 2023 Mar. 8 [cited 2024 May 1];12(1). Available from: https://www.pagepressjournals.org/ijfs/article/view/11074

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