A duplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was developed to identify the milk of bovine and buffalo species in cheese products, particularly in mozzarella cheese, a typical Italian cheese made from buffalo's milk. Two sets of primers were designed on the basis of the alignment of the sequence codifying mitochondrial cyt b available in the GenBank database. The primers proved to be species-specific, giving rise to 279-bp (bovine) and 192-bp (buffalo) amplified fragments. Since the amplification conditions for bovine and buffalo primers were identical, a duplex PCR was successfully applied to identify the two species in a single reaction step. This technique, when used to test cheese products from the retail trade, allowed the detection of partial or even total substitution of cow's milk for buffalo's milk, in some cases in samples of cheese misleadingly labeled "pure buffalo" mozzarella.

The occurrence of microplastics in the marine ecosystem and aquatic organisms, their trophic transfer along the food web, and the identification of seafood species as suitable indicators have become a research priority. Despite the high quantity of research in this field, a comparison between the available data and an appropriate risk assessment remains difficult. In this perspective, as an innovative approach, the association of the feeding strategies of commercial seafood and the microplastic level was considered. Further research to assess the occurrence of microplastics in the marine food web, the long-term effects on animals and humans, and the health implications is needed.

Whole fish morphologically identified as belonging to Theragra chalcogramma, Merluccius merluccius, Merluccius hubbsi, and Merluccius capensis and 19 fish products commercialized as surimi with different commercial brands and labeled as T. chalcogramma were analyzed by direct sequence analysis of the cytochrome b gene. A phylogenetic analysis of surimi products was performed as well. Results demonstrated that mislabeling is a large-scale phenomenon, since 84.2% of surimi-based fish products sold as T. chalcogramma (16/19) were prepared with species different from the one declared. In fact, only three samples (samples 15-17) were found to belong to T. chalcogramma. In the remaining samples, Merluccidae (samples 4-14), Gadidae (samples 18 and 19), Sparidae (sample 1), and Pomacentridae (samples 2 and 3) families were detected. A phylogenetic tree was constructed, and the bootstrap value was calculated. According to this methodology, 11 samples were grouped in the same clade as Merluccius spp.

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