Source Certain has confirmed that trace element analysis can be used to verify the authenticity of Western Rock Lobster flesh based on its chemical fingerprint. With a globally recognised ‘clean and green’ image, Australian produce is prone to fraud in export markets. Western Rock Lobster is a desirable high-end food product only found along the Western Australian coastline. While the lobster is easily identifiable when left whole, the flesh itself is commonly extracted to be sold at retail or in food service, exposing it to substitution with cheaper and more available species.
The Details
High-end seafood continues to be at risk of food fraud, typically involving substitution and mislabelling of expensive premium products with cheaper species. These practices often occur in the export market, where the complexity of global supply chains is exploited. Activities like this damage consumer trust and undermine sustainability efforts and investment in sustainable fishery management.
While packaging and labelling add a layer of important information to premium exported products like lobster, they are unable to serve their purpose when they are physically separated from the product itself.
It is common for lobster meat to be sold separately from the identifiable exoskeleton, requiring a verification method reliant on physical specimens alone.
Chemical profiling of naturally grown or manufactured material is one of the most robust methods available to enhance supply chain traceability for all products.
Outcomes
- The Western Rock Lobster (Panulirus cygnus) is found along the entire coastline of Western Australia and in a wide range of inshore and continental shelf zones, from the intertidal area to waters more than 50m deep.
- Our program has successfully demonstrated the feasibility of using advanced technology to trace and verify the origins of Western Rock Lobster flesh by analysing its chemical fingerprint.
- Due to the exclusivity of the lobster, this study prioritised fishery-level origin verification. The captured data offers the basis for further building capability for verification when undertaking in-market testing.
- Large-scale data would allow for verification of both origin and species.
This study was supported by research conducted by Source Certain scientists in the late 2000’s.
Watling, R. J., et al. (2010). The Application of Solution and Laser Ablation Based ICP-MS and Solution Based AES for the Provenance Determination of Selected Food and Drink Produce. The Open Chemical and Biomedical Methods Journal, 3, 179-196.
Other case studies
View allTalk to one of our experts
Whether your enquiry is about a service we offer, a request for more information about our technologies or you would like to know more about our company or team, please call or send us a message.