Authentication of Small Berry Fruit in Fruit Products by DNA Barcoding Method

Small berry fruit products are gaining an expanded market due to their high nutrition value. However, the authenticity of products is challenged by adulteration and mislabeling. To establish an accurate and robust method for identifying both known and unknown fruit species in small berry fruit products, DNA barcoding technology based on Sanger sequencing was adopted. To overcome the influence of processing conditions on DNA recovery, mini-barcodes of rbcL and ITS and a medium-barcode of psbA-trnH were applied. To identify ingredients in products containing mixed species, plasmid cloning was applied to separate mixed barcodes. The method established in this paper could detect 1% to 10% target species in mixed fruit juice.