Testing for Traceability of Meat From Farm to Fork Down to Individual Animals

Clarity and confidence for the food chain

Food safety crises, from bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE, or “mad cow disease”), to the European horsemeat scandal, have rocked the food industry and driven consumers to demand safer food products and reliable information about sources and production processes. Eurofins companies’ innovative testing approaches have helped provide true “farm-to-fork” traceability and much-needed confidence to the sector.

BSE was first identified in cattle in 1986 and, unfortunately, necessitated the slaughter of over four million animals in the UK alone. In 1996, the disease was acknowledged to have jumped the species barrier to humans, via the consumption of infected beef and beef products. The first cases of a new variant of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) were registered and over 220 people are believed to have succumbed to the disease in Western Europe.

In addition to these human and animal fatalities, the global news headlines resulting from the BSE scandal and other food safety crises cause pressure across the supply chain and highlight the very real importance of being able to reliably trace the origin of meat products.

The technology to achieve this lagged behind until, in 2001, Eurofins developed its innovative patented method, Eurofins TAG. For the very first time, genetic fingerprints were used for the precise identification of cattle in the food industry that had been tested free of BSE, with each individual animal matched to one genetic profile. Simple to administer, reference samples were taken from animals before they reached the slaughterhouse, and the information was stored in a database and compared with control samples taken post-slaughter. Large-scale adoptions of the technology for DNA traceability projects included the Pays de la Loire region of Western France.

Technologies have continued to evolve, and the Eurofins network is still leading the way in rapidly reacting in times of crisis. For example, a DNA chip-based method was validated in 2015, in the wake of the horsemeat crisis in 2013. Consumers, retailers and producers were demanding the verification of product composition, and proof of its compliance with relevant regulations and that it was entirely consistent with the claims on the label. The DNA chip allowed for the identification of animal species in food products, including pig, chicken, rabbit, cat, sheep, and goat, as well as horse. In 2024, the laboratory Eurofins Biologie Moléculaire France, based in Nantes, replaced the DNA chip with a set of newly developed multiplex Real-time PCR tests for the detection of up to 12 animal species in meat products, compound food samples, and animal feed. Contrary to the DNA chip–based method, the Real-time PCR technology includes an internal inhibition control, meeting the most stringent requirements in terms of quality assurance.

The science behind