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Food Analysis >> Food News >> DNA fingerprinting to prevent food fraud in rice

New Scientific Publication on DNA Fingerprinting to prevent food fraud in rice

DNA markers have the power to distinguish commercial rice varieties and to check their descent

Aug 2025. Eurofins Specht Express Testing & Inspection, their colleagues of Eurofins Genomics and the Bangor University in Wales have published their recent results on DNA fingerprinting of commercial rice varieties in “Food Control”, an official scientific journal of the European Federation and the International Union of Food Science and Technology (EFFoST and IUFoST).

The authors demonstrate that the DNA markers established in the routine testing at the Eurofins laboratories in Germany for the authentication of Basmati and Jasmine rice have the power to distinguish among other global economically relevant rice varieties, evaluate their genetic background, and substantiate the authenticity of reference materials.

Development of the DNA fingerprinting method

Since the publication of the first Code of Practice for Basmati Rice by the Rice Association in 2005, the Eurofins laboratories in Germany are offering authenticity testing of rice specialties by DNA fingerprinting. This analytical method was originally developed in the United Kingdom for testing the authenticity of Basmati rice on behalf of the Food Standards Agency, with a major contribution of Dr. Katherine Steele of the Bangor University. The Eurofins laboratories in Germany have adapted the method for routine testing of other rice specialties, particularly Jasmine rice.

Highlights of the new publication

As highlights the new publication presents DNA fingerprints of 158 commercial rice varieties from 14 countries across four continents. Analysis of these fingerprints using modern bioinformatic tools, such as the UPGMA algorithm and the Principle Coordinate Analysis (PCoA), revealed genetic clusters that could be used to distinguish varieties according to their country of origin, breeding background and ancestry from traditionally cultivated landraces. Basmati varieties could thus be grouped into six commercially relevant families: Basmati 370, Taraori/Kernel, Super Basmati, Pusa Basmati (PB) 1, PB1121 and PB1509.

Furthermore, the authors of the study show that six varieties notified as Basmati by India and Pakistan, as well as one variety listed as duty-exempt fragrant rice under the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (OM5451), are not fragrant and not related to Basmati or Jasmine rice cultivars. The DNA fingerprinting method can also be extended to other specialty rice authentications, including Sushi, Risotto and Paella rice. It has the potential to enforce industrial, legal and free trade agreement standards.

You can access the full publication free of charge here: Nader et al. (2025). DNA markers for Basmati authentication have the power to distinguish among other global economically relevant rice varieties and to evaluate their genetic background

Further details of the method have been published by Nader et al. in 2013, 2014, 2016, 2019 and 2020.

DNA fingerprinting as a tool to prevent food fraud

According to a press release from the UK Rice Association, strict quality and authenticity requirements apply to Basmati rice in the United Kingdom, which are defined in the “Basmati Code of Practice”. This clear definition of varieties as “authentic” ensures that British consumers are purchasing an authentic product when they decide to pay a premium price for Basmati rice. The press release referred to four individuals who were arrested in the UK for using counterfeit premium brand Basmati packaging to sell large quantities of mixed rice.

All definitions of authenticity require professional analytical tools for their enforcement. The UK Rice Association press release cites DNA fingerprinting from the publication of the Eurofins laboratories in Germany and the Bangor University as the enforcement tool of choice.

We support you

In addition to authenticity testing, the Eurofins laboratories in Germany provide you a broad scope of laboratory analyses to test rice for contaminants, pesticides and GMOs. We support you with pre-shipment inspection services and loading controls in major source countries such as Pakistan, India, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Myanmar, Uruguay, Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil. Furthermore, we audit rice mills to ensure compliance with Food Safety Management Systems.

If you have any questions on this topic, please contact your personal account manager or get in touch with our experts Dr. Werner Nader and Dr. Torsten Brendel.