Is DNA barcoding now the adulteration tool du jour?
Speaking with NutraIngredients-USA at the recent SupplySide West show in Las Vegas, Jaksch said that the DNA barcoding issue is a “distraction” for the industry.
“Look, use it or don’t use it, but it’s just another analytical method that may or may not be useful for testing these types of products, botanicals in particular,” he said.
“The tool doesn’t give you 100% of the answer. Take ginseng as an example, it’s not going to tell you what plant part it is. It will tell you if you have ginseng or not, but it will not tell you if you have authentic root or leaf.”
“Although the NY AG is trying to defend the consumer, they just actually made consumer products worse through this action, that’s my opinion. DNA barcoding is now the adulteration tool du jour. We’ve already started to see it. You can pixie dust a bit of authenticated herb into a mix, and because it’s non quantitative it will pick up on a little amount, so it can be used as a tool to validate garbage.”
Jaksch said that the supply chain is everything, and that quality control and analytical testing is something that you do as part of a supply chain process to validate what you already know through audit and inspection.
“There’s too much emphasis on DNA barcoding and analytical testing altogether, and I’m an analytical lab – think about that.
“In reality, quality is in supply chain management. It’s in audit and inspection of that supply chain.
“The businesses practices, and especially the purchasing practices of this market, have to change.”
