DNA based bar code for improved food traceability

Inventors

Zografos, Antonios • Farquar, George Roy

Abstract

Food distributed to consumers through a distribution chain may be traced by tagging the food with DNA tags that identify the origin of the food, such as the grower, packer and other points of distribution, and their attributes. This makes it much quicker and easier to trace the food in case of food contamination or adulteration. Preferably these attributes indicate the field, location, crew and machine used to grow and process the food, and the dates of the various steps of food harvesting, processing and distribution. Natural or synthetic DNA pieces may be used to tag items, including food items. Multidigit binary or other types of bar codes may be represented by multiple types of DNA. Each digit of the bar code may be represented by one, two or more unique DNA pieces.

Core Innovation

The invention describes DNA-barcode-based food traceability that identifies attributes and origin of a food material across multiple nodes of a distribution chain. A DNA bar code is attached to or mixed with a food material and identifies at least two attributes of at least one node. The DNA bar code includes at least N unique independent pieces of DNA that represent N binary digits of a bar code, with N being a positive integer greater than one, and the pieces are constructed to be distinguishable from DNA present in the food material.

The invention further describes tagging of an item, including a food material, with a material including at least N unique independent pieces of DNA representing N digits of a bar code that identifies an attribute of the item. Each DNA piece represents one value of a corresponding one of the N digits, and the DNA pieces are constructed to be distinguishable from DNA present in the item prior to addition of the material for tagging. Embodiments include DNA tags applied by mixing or coating, including coatings and encapsulation approaches described in the document.

For readout, the invention includes detecting DNA bar code contents by PCR, analyzing N digits or N binary digits indicated by detected DNA pieces to identify attributes. The invention describes amplification of DNA bar code target fragments in the second material, detection of the copies of each target fragment, and analyzing the N digits indicated to identify the attribute of the food material. The invention also describes deriving a derived bar code from detected pieces of DNA and comparing the derived bar code to a predetermined bar code to detect the attribute, including identifying origin of the first food material.

Claims Coverage

The partial content provides multiple independent claims. Across these claims, the inventive features are centered on DNA bar codes represented by at least N unique independent pieces of DNA, with N>1, their distinguishability from background DNA, and linking detected or derived bar codes to attributes such as node attributes or item and origin attributes, including PCR-based readout and comparison to predetermined bar codes.

The independent claims collectively cover a food product or other item where a DNA bar code is attached to or mixed with a material used to tag the item, with the bar code encoded by at least N distinguishable unique independent DNA pieces representing N digits or N binary digits, and attribute identification methods that detect DNA pieces, optionally amplify them using polymerase chain reaction, derive a derived bar code, and analyze or compare the resulting bar code to identify an attribute such as node attributes or an origin.

Stated Advantages

Documented Applications