When some biology students examined various sushi restaurants, they detected fraud

Fish is one of those love or hate kind of foods. The smell is especially pungent when it is raw, and the taste of the ocean even when it is cooked does not always appeal to everyone. That being said, sushi is a favorite of many people and it is considered quite healthy which makes it even more appealing. However, the key ingredient in most sushi, fish, can be of questionable quality. Do you actually know that you are eating salmon sashimi or could it be disguised as another fish?
A Canadian biology teacher named Dr. Jennifer McDonald from Fanshawe College decided she wanted her class to think critically about what is put in front of them. To add a fun edge, she decided that her students would take part in an experiment testing fish DNA with the fish from sushi restaurants being their test subjects. The experiment had some unexpected outcomes which she posted on her social media. In fact, they greatly surprised the residents of London, Ontario which is where the experiments were conducted and uncovered a fish fraud ring.

The Experiment

An active social media user, Dr. McDonald decided to document a class experiment involving fish DNA. She wanted her class to be able to positively identify different types of fish, which meant that they needed to collect samples from a variety of locations.

The biggest supplier of samples would be restaurants, specifically sushi ones. They regularly received new stock which meant her students just needed to eat out and grab a piece of fish for later.

The Testing Kits

Her students were excited by the prospect of actually doing something practical with the skills they had been learning. It would require specific testing kits for the fish DNA which would create a DNA sequence that they could then match to the barcode associated with the DNA from each fish and see if the two matched.

If the two sequences are different then it means they are not the same fish. It was an experiment that would involve a lot of fun and a whole lot of science which is just what Dr. McDonald’s students needed to get excited about biology.

Getting Organized

While the experiment itself was meant to be something fun, Dr. McDonald also wanted her students to learn the importance of labeling food and knowing what exactly it is they are putting into their bodies. Each piece of fish that was collected either from a restaurant or a grocery store had to be placed in a Ziploc bag and labeled with a permanent marker with exactly what it is.

A lot of people do not think about food allergies and intolerances which can have life-changing results if a person eats something they shouldn’t. Food safety would also be part of the experiment.

The Outcome

After the students had painstakingly collected samples, labeled the bags, and sequenced the DNA, the results were ready to be shared. Dr. McDonald had had an idea of what the results might be but she did not think the class had any idea the samples they had tested were most likely not what they thought they were.

Food is routinely packaged with unlisted ingredients or even marketed as a different food altogether. At one point cat meat was used as chicken in some Chinese food restaurants which caused quite the stir. Was something similar going to happen with the so-called fish?