Julius Skrrvin
I be winkin' through the scope
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/12/science/biltong-meat-often-mislabeled-study-finds.html?ref=science
Biltong, the strips of cured meat that are a popular snack in South Africa, is often not what it appears to be.
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Using DNA analysis on biltong, researchers found horse meat labeled as springbok, the native gazelle; giraffe meat labeled as the African antelope, kudu; and in an inexplicable case, kangaroo labeled as ostrich.:pav:
For me the saddest finding was to find the Cape mountain zebra, an endangered species, being sold as biltong, said Maria Eugenia DAmato, a geneticist at the University of the Western Cape in South Africa and one of the authors of the study, in the journal Investigative Genetics.
From a total of 146 samples of biltong, sausage and minced meat, more than a hundred pieces of meat were mislabeled.
Beef was correctly labeled in all of the samples.
Our biggest surprise was to find kangaroo in the samples, Dr. DAmato said. This isnt found anywhere on the continent, and it must have been imported.
The researchers used the meat samples to obtain DNA sequence information from genes that allow for species identification. They compared these DNA bar codes against species information stored in GenBank.
Dr. DAmato said the mislabeling calls for better regulation, to protect both animals and consumers. Similar problems have surfaced in other countries.
Some people, for health and religious reasons, do not eat certain meat, she said. I found mixtures of lamb and pork in sausages labeled ostrich.
careful what you eat, south afribrehs