M&S is among the companies that is using the technology, which compares the DNA of shrimp in finished consumer products with data collected from the source. The technique is designed to prevent leakages into the supply chain or co-mingling from other sources.
“What’s elegant about the technological approach is it uses, as we say, nature’s barcode… You can’t change that label, it doesn’t fall off, so it can be a very precise method of tracing products,” said Ronan Loftus, co-founder and director of IdentiGEN, the company that developed the technology.
In the same way the forensic industry uses DNA testing, IdentiGEN profiles shrimp from source ponds. Shrimp products at the other end of the supply chain can then be checked against this database for authenticity.
The technique bookends the supply chain and supports companies’ own due diligence and audits. “The more complex the supply chain, clearly the greater potential for co-mingling to occur,” said Loftus.
