Species identification - analysis
Food fraud sometimes involves replacing expensive meats or fish with cheaper varieties in order to increase profits. The Swedish Food Agency employs accredited methods for species identification of meat, poultry and fish.
Food fraud damages consumer confidence in food producers throughout the supply chain, from farmer to shop proprietor. Deliberately mislabelling food is a violation of national and international legislation and regulation.
The Swedish Food Agency has the analytical capacity to determine the species of various mammals and birds, including game such as reindeer and elk. It is also possible to determine fish species.
Accredited methods
The accredited methods used by the Swedish Food Agency to analyse different species are listed below.
Please contact us if you would like further information and/or prices for the analyses we offer.
Maria Sitell
Head of Biology Department
Email: firstname.sirname@slv.se
Mammals
| Species | Latin | Analytical technique |
| Pig | Sus scrofa | Real-time PCR |
| Horse | Equus caballus | Real-time PCR |
| Cattle | Bos taurus | Real-time PCR |
| Sheep | Ovis aries | Real-time PCR |
| Goat | Capra hircus | Real-time PCR |
| Elk | Alces alces | Real-time PCR |
| Reindeer | Rangifer tarandus | Real-time PCR |
| Red deer | Cervus elaphus | Real-time PCR |
| Fallow deer | Dama dama | Real-time PCR |
| Roe deer | Capreolus capreolus | Real-time PCR |
Birds
| Duck | Anas platyrhynchos domesticus | Analytical technique |
| Ostrich | Strutio camelus | Real-time PCR |
| Pheasant | Phasanius colchicus | Real-time PCR |
| Quail | Coturnix coturnix | Real-time PCR |
| Turkey | Meleagris gallopavo | Real-time PCR |
| Chicken | Gallus gallus domesticus | Real-time PCR |
Fish
