Data Verification and Food Authentication

Organization: SAP: 1 Billion Lives (Team No Squid)

Challenge Owner Name: Kathleen Chiu, Pablo Ospina, Navjot Sandhu

Kathleen.chiu@sap.com, n.sandhu@sap.com

Video Pitch

Challenge Statement:

Seafood fraud is becoming more of a hot topic in academic literature and popular press. DNA barcoding has been identified as a rapidly developing method to detect fraud within the seafood space. It has already seen adoption from independent labs, universities and even regulatory bodies (FDA). However, it has yet to be scaled to day to day operations within organizations for real impact.

Background:

Despite concerns about the safety of fish, seafood consumers are routinely given little or no information about the seafood they purchase. Moreover, the information on the labels and menus is often misleading or fraudulent. Oceana (Canada based non-profit organization) research (2017) found that “one in three seafood samples [were] mislabeled nationwide”. With more than 90% of seafood consumed in the U.S. imported and only 1% inspected by the government specifically for fraud, this comes as no surprise. Mislabeling Impacts the small pockets of our consumers where cheap quality fish is swapped for a wild caught salmon. It impacts public health and safety as it can cause food poisoning, allergic reactions. Above all, it causes imbalance in our delicate marine ecosystems. Not to forget the global human rights abuse it can create by encouraging market for illegally (unreported, unregulated) caught fish. Traceability solutions alone cannot address the full scope of this challenge due to the inability to validate the product across the supply chain. The label of the fish can be easily tampered with, especially when the product exchanges many hands down the supply chain before it reaches the shelves in the grocery stores.

Possible Solution:

We need a solution to increase food quality and security using the latest technology. The traditional approach human-based visual inspection is prone to error and fraud. We need to come up with ways in which we can incorporate technologies such as portable DNA barcoding, MRI or high-resolution photography which could be used to improve food authenticity when it reaches the consumer.

We are looking towards a solution that will attack fraud at its source first with the vision to expand it across the supply chain to extend food security.

Resources:

• https://oceana.org/sites/default/files/National_Seafood_Fraud_Testing_Results_Highlights_FINAL.pdf
• http://www.tru-id.ca/
• http://futureoffish.org/sites/default/files/docs/resources/TNC.SeafoodSupplyChainReport.V10.Print_.pdf
• https://www.norpacexport.com/quality/traceability/
• https://www.seachoice.org/info-centre/markets/canadian-imports-exports/#5a7153257ff76
• FISH-BOL and seafood identification: geographically dispersed case studies reveal systemic market substitution across Canada.