Tru-ID
Verifying food integrity
Let’s go back to 2008. Two high-school seniors named Kate Stoeckle and Louisa Strauss took on a freelance science project to check the DNA of local fish samples in restaurants and grocery stores. What they discovered was that nearly a quarter of the fish tested was incorrectly labeled and often, it was discovered, customers were paying for a more expensive fish but receiving a lower priced knock off. Counterfeit food had started infiltrating our food supply system. After postulating that it should be possible to create a system to verify and barcode products validity but testing their DNA a new business venture was started to do just that. Ensure that the products we are paying for are the products that we are receiving.
Fast forward to 2016. I just interviewed Dr. Steven Newmaster PhD. At the University of Alberta formerly of the University of Guelph in Ontario Canada. He’s created a service called Tru-ID. Since 2012 TRU-ID has been providing companies that want to assure their customers that they are providing customers exactly what they’re paying for.
What is Tru-ID?
TRU-ID is a process by which samples of a product are sent to the TRU-ID lab to have their DNA tested and Validated.
How do I know that it wasn’t the just samples that were real?
TRU-ID uses a number of methods to detect and prevent deception from a manufacturer trying to get the TRU-ID label. There are random audits and samples from every batch. A company can only receive the TRU-ID label after multiple samples have been tested over a period of time and that all of the samples DNA falls within the statistical norms. As Dr. Newmaster put it. “You can’t fool the scientific method.”
What motivated you to take on this problem?
Dr. Newmaster is one of those genuine souls who I would presume has a little of Dr. Jonas Salk in him. For those of you not familiar Dr. Salk, he invented the first polio vaccine but was so concerned that it be provided to everyone he refused to patent his invention to ensure that it was done inexpensively enough for everyone to receive it. When I asked why he chose this issue he responded nonchalantly, “It’s just the right thing to do.”
What industry’s are most plagued by counterfeit products?
Dr. Newmaster indicated that the most prevalent cases are in the natural health product, olive oil and coffee industry. Hence my interest but I’ll get to that later.
Won’t it add to the cost of our consumer goods?
The goal of TRU-ID is to help the food industry set standards of quality and security with out costing a lot. So TRU-ID makes testing inexpensive by putting as much in the hands of the manufacturer hands and by providing simple, accurate and inexpensive testing protocols. In the end it ensures that we’re getting the higher quality products we’re paying for.
How does it affect the coffee industry?
Right now the coffee industry can be assured that if a product with 100% Arabica coffee on the label has a TRU-ID decal on it then it’s 100% Arabica coffee and not 80% Arabica and 20% Robusta which as lesser quality and much less expensive coffee. Coming soon though, Dr. Newmaster shared with me that they are now profiling many sub species of coffee. So when roasters want to be assured that their distributor has sent the coffee from that grower in Ethiopia instead of mixing it with something else. That’s just around the corner.
Interested in finding out more?
Visit their website at
www.tru-id.ca
TRU-ID Ltd.
Research Park Centre, Suite 102
150 Research Lane
Guelph, Ontario - Canada N1G 4T2
Posted on: 2016-04-21 5:06 PM 
