131475Food Metagenomics for Authenticity and SafetyClosedFeasibility StudiesInnovate UKThe recent horse meat scandal has focussed the food manufacturing and retail companiesto look at production methods and sourcing of meat products. Critical in this process are techniques that cacn accurately and comprehensively analyse food products to determine the exact composition. PCR is an established technique ued extensively to detect horse DNA comtamination but it has its limitations and cannot be used to quantitate accurate contaminating DNA levels in sample. Next Generation Sequencing is a powerful technique that determines the total DNA species content of a given sample. It does not require any prior knowledge of which contaminating species may be present a requirement for standard PCR testing. Genon and the Univeristy of Manchester are collaborating in a project to validate Next Generation Sequencing for meat authenticity testing. If successful the technique will be available to the food industry to validate their products in a more accurate manner.