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Potatoes are a staple part of the UK diet, both as a fresh product and in processed foods. There are a large number of potato varieties available commercially and different potatoes are sold at differing prices and offered for use for different specific purposes. Current legislation requires potatoes to be sold labelled with their variety name. This creates a requirement to be able to distinguish between and identify potato varieties using an objective, simple and rapid analysis.
The main objective of this project was to use microsatellite based DNA profiling for the discrimination between and identification of fresh potatoes. A database of variety profiles would be produced, and tested against commercially purchased samples of potatoes.
<p>Find more about this project and other FSA food safety-related projects at the <a href="http://www.food.gov.uk/science/research/" target="_blank">Food Standards Agency Research webpage</a>.