Challenges in the identification of species of canned fish

The identification of fish species becomes a problem when the usual identif ying characteristics are removed on processing and only a portion of flesh is available. When the flesh is raw or cooked under normal conditions, the species is readily established by electrophoresis of the muscle proteins. T he procedure cannot be used for heat-sterilised canned fish as the proteins are severely denatured. DNA is also degraded but techniques are now availa ble for targeting and amplifying species-specific fragments. The amplified products can then be analysed by a range of techniques some of which are su itable for food control laboratories. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. Ail ri ghts reserved.