the-BA : Fish finders

If it says “salmon” on the outside, it must be salmon inside the packet. That’s the law, but how would you know if the manufacturers cheated? When served on a plate, can you tell shark from kipper, or salmon from sardine? To most of us, the flesh of some fish looks, and maybe tastes, very similar. Biological detective work can tell the difference. (The same technique recently detected donkey and horsemeat in salami, much to some people’s dismay!)

Have you ever wondered how to distinguish between types of fish flesh that look similar?

You might like to …

• look at samples of fresh white fish flesh, to see whether you can see any significant differences in texture or appearance, which would help to identify them; does microscopic examination help?
• experiment to test whether cooking the fish in various ways makes it any easier, or more difficult, to identify the species (note: if your tests are to include taste, the cooking must be done in a kitchen or cookery room, not a laboratory)
• find out how electrophoresis can be used to distinguish between types of protein, including different species of fish and types of meat
• use electrophoresis to check whether the fish in a product is the species named on the packet.

Further links:
http://www.food.gov.uk/foodlabelling/

Chemistry Provides the Solution - for details see
www.vam.org.uk/training/training_school_resources.asp

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