From enigmatic sausages to fake fish, the authenticity of the foods we eat is increasingly in question. It may seem like a new concept, but food fraud is a worldwide issue with a long history – and scammers have come a long way from crudely diluting milk with plaster in the Middle Ages. While experts push for full traceability in convoluted supply chains to combat food fraud, University of Guelph researchers have created a new tool that puts detection in the hands of non-scientists, the CBC reports. If the sample is from a known organism, “they can see where the organism lives, other places where it’s been found, other images of the organism and descriptions.” However, in many cases, people find the unprecedented. Of the planet’s species, millions have yet to be scientifically described; a 2011 study estimated that roughly 86 per cent are unknown.

Source: National Post July 08, 2019 17:17 UTC