By Gary Magder

Wouldn’t it be great to be able to prove that your product is what you say it is? For about 15 years, a company called Applied DNA Sciences  has used unique molecular identity tags to put information such as the location of a plant or date of manufacture right into a product. These tags are made of extremely short DNA sequences — a sort of molecular barcode, says Judy Murrah, Chief Operating Officer of the company.

 “Our customer Nutrition 21 provides OU-certified products,” she continues. “Since they’re using our molecular tags, we are required to have our specific bit of DNA OU-certified, because it’s an ingredient.” Once approval is given for a particular product, the tag is then one way to demonstrate that it’s produced in a plant that is OU-certified and uses OU-certified products.