TY - JOUR
T1 - Spatio-temporal trace element fingerprinting of king scallops (Pecten maximus) reveals harvesting period and location
AU - Morrison, Liam
AU - Bennion, Matthew
AU - Gill, Stephen
AU - Graham, Conor T.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2019/12/20
Y1 - 2019/12/20
N2 - A rapidly growing human population is increasingly relying on seafood as a source of protein and other essential nutrients. Bivalve shellfish, both from wild populations and aquaculture, will undoubtedly continue to account for a significant portion of overall seafood production, but consumption of such shellfish carries potential health risks. Biotoxins, disease causing organisms and pollution contribute to this risk, as shellfish are indiscriminate, passive filter feeders. While government bodies, industry regulators and producers are capable of managing this risk, counterfeit produce can risk public safety, in turn damaging the reputation of the entire industry. Traceability tools provide a means to uphold food safety standards and mitigate remaining risk to consumers. Here, we show how the use of trace element (TE) signatures in shells and soft tissues of king scallops combined, can predict geographic origin with 100% accuracy. Importantly, we explore the temporal stability of this method, successfully classifying 100% of individuals correctly between two dates just 42 days apart from the same harvesting location. The most important elements in the trace element signatures of the scallops, discriminating between harvesting sites and dates were barium, boron, chromium, lead, manganese, molybdenum and selenium. The traceability tool described here offers a viable method to trace produce to its source, empowering industry regulators, government authorities, aquaculture practitioners and retailers in terms of tracking shellfish throughout the supply chain, which would comply with legislation and boost consumer confidence.
AB - A rapidly growing human population is increasingly relying on seafood as a source of protein and other essential nutrients. Bivalve shellfish, both from wild populations and aquaculture, will undoubtedly continue to account for a significant portion of overall seafood production, but consumption of such shellfish carries potential health risks. Biotoxins, disease causing organisms and pollution contribute to this risk, as shellfish are indiscriminate, passive filter feeders. While government bodies, industry regulators and producers are capable of managing this risk, counterfeit produce can risk public safety, in turn damaging the reputation of the entire industry. Traceability tools provide a means to uphold food safety standards and mitigate remaining risk to consumers. Here, we show how the use of trace element (TE) signatures in shells and soft tissues of king scallops combined, can predict geographic origin with 100% accuracy. Importantly, we explore the temporal stability of this method, successfully classifying 100% of individuals correctly between two dates just 42 days apart from the same harvesting location. The most important elements in the trace element signatures of the scallops, discriminating between harvesting sites and dates were barium, boron, chromium, lead, manganese, molybdenum and selenium. The traceability tool described here offers a viable method to trace produce to its source, empowering industry regulators, government authorities, aquaculture practitioners and retailers in terms of tracking shellfish throughout the supply chain, which would comply with legislation and boost consumer confidence.
KW - Food safety
KW - Seafood
KW - Shellfish
KW - Traceability
KW - Wild fishery
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85071609761&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.134121
DO - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.134121
M3 - Article
C2 - 32380612
AN - SCOPUS:85071609761
SN - 0048-9697
VL - 697
JO - Science of the Total Environment
JF - Science of the Total Environment
M1 - 134121
ER -