Species identification in food for human consumption has gained increasing interest in recent years. Topical issues include: (1) food fraud related to substitution of one species by a similar but cheaper one; (2) protection of endangered species; (3) assurance to consumers about their choices according to lifestyle (vegetarian), religion (absence of pork for Jews and Muslims) or health (absence of milk proteins for individuals with particular insensitivities or allergies). For these reasons, great attention is now paid to the labelling of food, especially processed food, for which the discrimination of different ingredients is difficult. Morphological examination may be adequate to identify raw food, but it fails in the case of processed products, which currently represent a high proportion of food marketing. As a result, reliable diagnostic procedures are required to identify and/or authenticate food items of animal origin, thus protecting animals, producers and consumers. In this context, our research group is working in different processed food of animal origin to develop molecular methods for species identification such as multiplex PCR, minisequencing test, Sanger sequencing and real-time PCR.

• Tracciabilità e sicurezza degli alimenti etnici - Ricerca Locale, Università degli Studi di Torino - 2015

• Dalmasso A., Civera T., Bottero M.T. - Biomolecular approaches for the identification of tuna species - Veterinary Research Communication - 2006, 30, 179-181.
• Dalmasso A., Fontanella E., Piatti P., Civera T., Secchi C., Bottero M.T. - Identification of four tuna species by means of Real-Time PCR and melting curve analysis - Veterinary Research Communication - 2007, 31, 355-357.
• Bottero M.T., Dalmasso A., Cappelletti M., Secchi C, Civera T. - Differentiation of five tuna species by a multiplex primer-extension assay. Journal of Biotechnology - 2007, 129, 575–580.
• La Neve F., Civera T., Bottero M.T. - Authentication of meat from game and domestic species by SNaP shot mini sequencing analysis - Meat Science.2008, 80, 216-224.
• Bottero M.T., Dalmasso A. - Animal species identification in food products: Evolution of biomolecular methods - The Veterinary Journal - 2011, 190: 34–38.
• Dalmasso A., Civera T., La Neve F., Bottero M.T. - Simultaneous detection of cow and buffalo milk in mozzarella cheese by Real-Time PCR assay - Food Chemistry - 2011, 124: 362-366.
• Dalmasso A., Sacchi P., Bottero M.T. - Development of a real-time PCR assay for the detection of cow and donkey milk - European Food Research and Technology - 2012, 235:47-52.
• Dalmasso A., Chiesa F., Civera T., Bottero M.T. - A novel minisequencing test for species identification of salted and dried products derived from species belonging to Gadiformes - Food Control. 2013, 34, 296- 299.
• Debenedetti F., Dalmasso A., Bottero M.T., Gilli M., Gili S., Tepedino V., Civera T. - Application of DNA barcoding for the control of the species from the Octopus genus - Italian Journal of Food Safety - 2014, 3, 196-199.
• Pagani E., Soto Del Rio M.d.l.D., Dalmasso A., Bottero M.T., Schiavone A., Prola L. - Cross-contamination in canine and feline dietetic limited-antigen wet diets - BMC Veterinary Research - 2018, 14, p. 1-6.