Identification and quantification of tuna species in canned tuna products

Context

The canned tuna market represents one of the main purchase volumes for canned aquatic products. Unfortunately, control of supply is an issue faced by tuna canners. Knowing the constituent species of the batches of raw materials used is a major element. However, this control comes up against two phenomena: the involuntary mixing of species when sorting fish, leading to partial contamination of certain batches, and the fraudulent use of raw material substitution for economic purposes.

Objective

Developing an analytical method to quantify and differentiate the species of canned tuna.

About the <strong>project </strong>

To do so, the project partners are testing the individual and then common use of the following technologies: PCR (to characterize DNA), mass spectrometry (to detect and identify molecules of interest) and fluorescence spectroscopy (to map molecules).