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Before you pay big money for caviar, check with two New York City high school students. Brenda Tan and Matt Cost worked with DNA barcoding experts at Rockefeller University and other researchers at the American Museum of Natural History to identify hundreds of food samples, assorted hairs and animal bits in their neighborhood. The Trinity School seniors discovered 95 different species of animal and 11 cases of fraudulent food labeling. Their findings appear in the January issue of the journal BioScience.
The professional researchers provided DNA sequences for the samples the students collected. The kids then checked the sequences against the database at barcodinglife.org
The high schoolers found everything from pigeons and Pomeranians to an invasive latrine fly and what looks to be at least a new subspecies of cockroach. A supposed sheep’s milk cheese was actually from cows. And alleged sturgeon caviar was just cheap Mississippi paddlefish eggs. But there was good news: all eight classmates who provided hair for the study turned out to be human.—Adam Hinterthuer
[The above text is an exact transcript of this podcast.]
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15 Comments
Add Commentyears ago a grocery store was busted for selling squid as abalone, I thought at the time that antibody testing would make inspector's jobs easier, now it is easy enough for HS kids to do. Technology isn't all bad is it?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisImpressive assignment. Whoever thought up the project is to be commended. A good lesson for us who suspect fraudulent claims on many food products we consume. Tan and Cost have a brilliant future and both deserve all the support academia can provide.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisanother comment on how one can trust their fellow man to do the right thing.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisNeat assignment, but the students really didn't do anything. They simply inserted the DNA sequences into the database, something I did my first semester as a biology undergrad. The researchers did the sequencing.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHey Gerrly. So what. These kids followed a process and discovered something interesting. Give them some kudos, after all they are in high school. Plus you just admitted that high schoolers are doing something in high school that you couldn't do until college. Check your ego at the door please.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThank you for setting the facts straight Gerrly. It's good to be clear on what was actually accomplished by the students. Sometimes reporters like to skip facts in order to get a flashier story. Nothing to do with your ego..how is that comment even relevant.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWho can help me with my English? I am a Chinese student . Please.....
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe students designed the experiments, collected the samples, went to reputable experts who could provide them with the sequences--which at this point is the grunt work--and then found the matching sequences to identify the samples. If the students didn't do anything, the typical professional principal investigator of a university or private sector major research project doesn't do anything either.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI think the students should get 'high fives' for their part... it is great to see the time and effort they put into their study .. someday because of their efforts they may be the next scientists to find 'the cure' for cancer.... who knows... give credit where credit is due I am applading these young folks!!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisNot that I couldn't do it in high school, I never had the opportunity. Has anyone ever used one of these programs? It's copy and paste into a text box!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSteve, maybe I'm missing where it says the students designed the experiment. I was under the impression that the researchers gave instruction, but maybe I'm wrong.
Even so, the collection of the samples is important in learning experimental design, and the results are interesting. My intention was not to bash, though it did sound that way in my first post. It was a worthy assignment, one that may foster an interest in research.
Most of science IS grunt work, and from the little information provided in the article, the students did seem to have done a fair bit themselves; including collecting samples, data collating, reporting etc. It would be interesting to know whether they originated the idea and designed the experiment themselves. Perhaps reading the original article will be more informative.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisFYI Paddlefish eggs are not cheap. 2oz of paddlefish caviar is typically aroudn $50-$100. Paddlefish are also heavily protected and are only found in US waters, so their caviar is typically in limited supply as the harvest is highly regulated.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"And alleged sturgeon caviar was just cheap Mississippi paddlefish eggs." Paddlefish caviar is NOT cheap, 2 oz can run $85-1-$150. Paddle fish caviar is highly sought, they are only found in the US, they are protected in most/all states, and their fishing is highly regulated. The fishing season may only last for 4 to 5 days in some states with a 1000 fish harvest cap being in place. There is a large market for paddlefish caviar and a relatively limited supply. In fact some canneries sell out within days of the product becoming available. I do not see a company intentionally mislabeling the product. Could it be that they assumed what type of caviar they had without reading the label?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHey Zhao,
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhat do you need doing?
About fake food--does it give you fake indigestion?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisCan you use fake Prilosec for it?
Fake Sh:t? Man, that'd suck.