{"id":2613,"date":"2013-02-21T14:00:17","date_gmt":"2013-02-21T20:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.coleparmer.com\/blog\/?p=2613"},"modified":"2022-12-12T00:28:57","modified_gmt":"2022-12-12T06:28:57","slug":"food-quality-are-you-eating-what-you-think-you-are-eating","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.coleparmer.com\/blog\/food-quality-are-you-eating-what-you-think-you-are-eating\/","title":{"rendered":"Food Quality: Are You Eating What You Think You Are Eating?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>News in the last week has been saturated with reports from the UK on the discovery of horse meat in products labeled as beef. Sold through a complex series of wholesalers and middlemen, the meat ended up in frozen dinners and meat products.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.coleparmer.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/hamburger2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-2633\" src=\"https:\/\/www.coleparmer.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/hamburger2.jpg?w=150\" alt=\"Hamburger\" width=\"150\" height=\"86\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.coleparmer.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/hamburger2.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.coleparmer.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/hamburger2-300x173.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a>Now, concern has spread across Europe about sources of meat and the products that contain it. According to a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.voanews.com\/a\/1605555.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow noopener noreferrer\">report out of Berlin<\/a>, \u201cDNA tests have revealed that beef tainted with horse meat has made it into supermarkets in 13 European Union nations. Store, schools, and hospitals are scrambling to remove some meat. And there are calls for tighter regulation of Europe\u2019s complex food chain.\u201d<sup> 1<\/sup><\/p>\n<p>While the precise origin of the alleged fraud is under investigation, the scandal spotlights the potential for the food supply to be contaminated with unexpected or unwanted substances.<\/p>\n<p>London Reporters Clare Hutchison and Alice Baghdijian quoted David Black, a Consumer Intelligence spokesman as declaring, \u201c(Brands) will have to put in place really stringent ways of checking what\u2019s being delivered and what\u2019s on the label is indeed what\u2019s in there.\u201d<sup>2<\/sup><\/p>\n<p>How can this be done? <a href=\"https:\/\/www.coleparmer.com\/Category\/PCR_Polymerase_Chain_Reaction\/56818?referred_id=5618\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Polymerase chain reaction (PCR)<\/a> is a method of DNA testing in which a strand of DNA is amplified and replicated through a series of temperature cycles. PCR requires the use of a temperature stable DNA polymerase that replicates DNA through an enzymatic process that also requires DNA primers, deoxynucleoside triphosphates, and a suitable buffer solution. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.coleparmer.com\/Category\/Electrophoresis_Products\/1145?referred_id=5618\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Gel electrophoresis<\/a> is then used to determine whether the DNA strands match those of known size.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDNA tests can determine what kind of animal meat is in your sandwich or frozen dinner,\u201d states a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dw.com\/en\/dna-confirms-whats-on-the-label-is-in-the-box\/a-16600821\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow noopener noreferrer\">report from DW<\/a>, a German broadcaster. \u201cThe technology for it is already present in many laboratories.\u201d<sup>3<\/sup><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0In addition to identifying the DNA of food such as meat, milk, cheese, and yogurt, the PCR process is also used in the criminal justice system. Food testing using PCR technology is considered more accurate and faster than some other methods including traditional microbiological culture methods.<\/p>\n<h6><sup>1<\/sup>Scaturro, Michael. Horse Meat Scandal Spreads Across Europe. <i>Voice of America<\/i>. Retrieved from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.voanews.com\/a\/1605555.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/www.voanews.com\/content\/horse-meat-europe\/1605555.html<\/a> on February 18, 2013.<\/h6>\n<h6><sup>2<\/sup>Hutchison, Clare &amp; Baghdijian, Alice. \u201cUK shoppers buy less meat after horsemeat scandal,\u201d <i>Reuters<\/i>, US Edition. Retrieved on February 18, 2013.<\/h6>\n<h6><sup>3\u201c<\/sup>DNA Confirms What\u2019s On the Label Is in the Box,\u201d <i>DW.DE<\/i> Retrieved from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dw.com\/en\/dna-confirms-whats-on-the-label-is-in-the-box\/a-16600821\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/www.dw.com\/dna-confirms-whats-on-the-label-is-in-the-box\/a-16600821<\/a> on February 19, 2013.<\/h6>\n<p><b>\u00a0<\/b><b><i>Disclaimer: Cole-Parmer products are not approved or intended for, and should not be used for medical, clinical, surgical or other patient-oriented applications.<\/i><\/b><b><\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>News in the last week has been saturated with reports from the UK on the discovery of horse meat in products labeled as beef. Sold through a complex series of wholesalers and middlemen, the meat&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,19],"tags":[143,450,630,632,639,690,780,781,782,1050,1051,1214,1286,1498],"class_list":["post-2613","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-food-beverage","category-safety-tips","tag-beef","tag-dna","tag-food-quality","tag-food-safety","tag-food-supply","tag-gel-electrophoresis","tag-horse-meat","tag-horsemeat","tag-horsemeat-scandal","tag-meat","tag-meat-source","tag-pcr","tag-polymerase-chain-reaction","tag-sources-of-meat"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Food Quality: Are You Eating What You Think You Are Eating? | from Cole-Parmer Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.coleparmer.de\/blog\/food-quality-are-you-eating-what-you-think-you-are-eating\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Food Quality: Are You Eating What You Think You Are Eating? | from Cole-Parmer Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"News in the last week has been saturated with reports from the UK on the discovery of horse meat in products labeled as beef. Sold through a complex series of wholesalers and middlemen, the meat...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.coleparmer.de\/blog\/food-quality-are-you-eating-what-you-think-you-are-eating\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Cole-Parmer Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/antylia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-02-21T20:00:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-12-12T06:28:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.coleparmer.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/hamburger2.jpg?w=150\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Cole-Parmer Blog Team\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@antylia\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@antylia\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Cole-Parmer Blog Team\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Food Quality: Are You Eating What You Think You Are Eating? | from Cole-Parmer Blog","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.coleparmer.de\/blog\/food-quality-are-you-eating-what-you-think-you-are-eating\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Food Quality: Are You Eating What You Think You Are Eating? | from Cole-Parmer Blog","og_description":"News in the last week has been saturated with reports from the UK on the discovery of horse meat in products labeled as beef. Sold through a complex series of wholesalers and middlemen, the meat...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.coleparmer.de\/blog\/food-quality-are-you-eating-what-you-think-you-are-eating\/","og_site_name":"Cole-Parmer Blog","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/antylia","article_published_time":"2013-02-21T20:00:17+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-12-12T06:28:57+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/www.coleparmer.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/hamburger2.jpg?w=150","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Cole-Parmer Blog Team","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@antylia","twitter_site":"@antylia","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Cole-Parmer Blog Team","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.coleparmer.de\/blog\/food-quality-are-you-eating-what-you-think-you-are-eating\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.coleparmer.de\/blog\/food-quality-are-you-eating-what-you-think-you-are-eating\/"},"author":{"name":"Cole-Parmer Blog Team","@id":"https:\/\/www.coleparmer.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/bd8d004d4d77d6b31800fa11177c6da9"},"headline":"Food Quality: Are You Eating What You Think You Are Eating?","datePublished":"2013-02-21T20:00:17+00:00","dateModified":"2022-12-12T06:28:57+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.coleparmer.de\/blog\/food-quality-are-you-eating-what-you-think-you-are-eating\/"},"wordCount":433,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.coleparmer.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.coleparmer.de\/blog\/food-quality-are-you-eating-what-you-think-you-are-eating\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.coleparmer.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/hamburger2.jpg?w=150","keywords":["Beef","dna","food quality","food safety","food supply","gel electrophoresis","horse meat","horsemeat","horsemeat scandal","meat","meat source","PCR","polymerase chain reaction","sources of meat"],"articleSection":["Food &amp; Beverage","Safety Tips"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.coleparmer.de\/blog\/food-quality-are-you-eating-what-you-think-you-are-eating\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.coleparmer.de\/blog\/food-quality-are-you-eating-what-you-think-you-are-eating\/","url":"https:\/\/www.coleparmer.de\/blog\/food-quality-are-you-eating-what-you-think-you-are-eating\/","name":"Food Quality: Are You Eating What You Think You Are Eating? 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