DNA TESTING is now part and parcel of everyday living and will become more so in the future, so it is only natural that farming leads the way in using it to attest to the veracity of the products that appear on the nation's dinner tables.

It's in the news this week for two reasons – QMS is putting feelers out to see if it can use the technology to add value to the authenticity of Scotch beef; and also breed societies are now using it to back up written pedigrees by using DNA sampling to verify them.

This is no 'Frankenfood' scenario, but rather an almost infallible way of policing the industry, both on the pedigree side and on a more commercial application in attesting that when sold as Scotch, the beef can be proven to be so. It also opens up a whole new vista in that, if properly used, it could eventually help identify the genetic profile of animals which produce beef that is tastier, can grow faster and are generally healthier. On the downside, it may narrow breeding lines too much – but that is also something genetic profiling can help with.

Also, there has always been genetic links to certain conditions in calves, for instance, and the dairy industry has used it to good effect in ridding itself of such conditions as achondrogenesis – known as 'bulldog calf syndrome' – while some breed specific diseases (which are often very rare) have also been bred out of several breeds.

It's important, though, to use the technology well and responsibly. It is also a wake-up call for anyone who wishes to play fast and loose with breeding pedigrees, but it also means that, in a good way, it can pick up on genuine mistakes and be the salvation of correcting those mistakes, which we hope is the case in the current inquiry into a Limousin bull.

Every breed society in the UK will be looking at DNA sampling to back up its herd/flock books. Indeed, in the future they may become legally obliged to do so. I look forward to seeing some our our hill sheep breeds making use of it in the future – certainly, in their instance, it should be become obligatory for those using AI and ET work and especially if they are selling either semen, eggs or the progeny thereof.