Tepnel Research Products and Services has launched a new genetic testing service for Basmati rice adulteration, aimed at food manufacturers, retailers and regulatory authorities. With up to half of the Basmati rice sold in the UK possibly containing non-Basmati varieties, the new DNA testing service will detect and quantify any adulteration.

Tepnel offers three types of testing: Bulk Variety Testing which will identify whether or not the rice sample contains more than one variety of rice thus indicating adulteration; Single Grain Testing to identify exactly what varieties of Basmati and adulterant rice are present; and Bulk Quantification Testing to quantify the level of non-Basmati rice. When used in conjunction with the Single Grain test, the Bulk Quantification Test will allow identification of adulterant varieties at illegal levels.

We are able to distinguish fifteen different approved varieties from fifteen non-approved varieties, providing quality assurance for the basmati rice imported and sold throughout Europe.

All testing is performed under ISO9001 accreditation following FSA approved protocols utilising
the latest analytical techniques. All our work is undertaken by qualified staff following strict protocols to maintain the highest quality service.

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Issued by/Press enquiries:
Carol Smith, Tepnel Research Products & Services, Heron House, Oaks Business Park, Crewe
Road, Wythenshawe, Manchester. M23 9HZ. Tel: 0161 946 2220 email: csmith@tepnel.co.uk

Notes to Editors

Basmati Rice is a long-grain, fragrant rice grown only in specific regions of Pakistan and India.
Basmati varieties are acclaimed, not only because of the fragrance, but because the plants and
grain have a specific set of traits or characteristics. Only nine varieties of rice qualify to be sold as
Basmati by the UK Food Standards Agency (FSA).

A survey conducted in our laboratory for the FSA in 2003 found that 30% of the basmati sold in
the UK was adulterated with non-basmati varieties. The survey used DNA extracted from samples of milled rice to test for the presence or absence of DNA fragments (alleles) with varietyspecific microsatellite DNA markers. Where this DNA was extracted from a mixture of grains of different varieties it was possible to compare the relative proportions of different alleles in a sample to estimate the proportion of non-basmati adulterant.