Spy On Your Food with this DNA Chip

Roland Piquepaille writes "Do you want to know if the chicken you just bought at the supermarket contains bits of pork or beef? Or would you like to know if the vegetarian meal you just ordered contains some fish or meat? If your answer is yes, you might get some help from a DNA chip which can recognize 32 different species of fishes, birds and mammals, including humans(!!), in a single test. Both Small Times and New Scientist carry a story of this DNA chip, which will likely be used first by food regulators. The FoodExpert-ID biochip is the first high-throughput gene chip for testing food and animal feed. But it doesn't come cheap. The cost of all the equipment needed to perform the tests is around $250,000, but each test would cost only $350 to $550. This overview contains more details and references. It also includes illustrations showing how the technology works."