Authentication of commercialized crab-meat in Chile using DNA Barcoding

Authentication of commercialized marine products has become a market priority. Crustaceans are benthic marine resources highly exploited in Chile. Brachyuran crabs are of particular interest and in Chile are commercialized with different processing and presentations. Generally, Chilean brachyuran crab-meat commercial packages do not include taxonomic information, which in addition to the loss of diagnostic characters during the processing, impedes the identification of species being commercialized. The goal of this study was to determine which brachyuran species are being commercialized in the Chilean market using DNA Barcoding and phylogenetic analysis. For authentication of commercial crab-meat and DNA Barcoding a partial sequence of the Cytochrome Oxidase I (COI) gene of seven commercialized brachyuran species in Chile were used. For authentication, samples were obtained from seven commercial formats available on the local market in Coquimbo, Chile. Most commercial packages contained more than one species of crab. The Species detected in order of frequency are Metacarcinus edwardsii, Romaleon polyodon, Cancer porteri, Cancer plebejus, and Homalaspis plana. Mislabeling was detected in one of the commercial formats that declared including meat from Cancer species. The procedure presented herein, based on standard DNA Barcoding as well as phylogenetic analyses, can be used for the normative control of crab-meat processed products.

► We use DNA barcoding for authentication of commercialized Chilean crab-meat products. ► We examine the species composition of commercial products based on crab-meat. ► Several species of crabs are included in most commercial packages. ► Barcoding is a useful approach for the identification of most commercial crab-meat products.