• Question: this is for all of you, does food have DNA? if so, could you add human DNA to it, and what would the outcome be?

    Asked by guitarbanana12 to Duncan, Grant, Julie, Nik, Rachel on 13 Mar 2013.
    • Photo: Grant Campbell

      Grant Campbell answered on 13 Mar 2013:

      All living things have DNA, food is “life in transit”, so yes, most food has DNA. I say “most”, because salt and sugar don’t, for example. Simply adding human DNA would do nothing – in fact we do this every time our hair or some cells from our skin fall into the food, as hair and skin cells contain our DNA – something we avoid carefully in food factories, but in our own homes in happens all the time!

    • Photo: Duncan Gaskin

      Duncan Gaskin answered on 14 Mar 2013:

      Any food prepared from living things will contain the DNA from them. DNA is tough substance that can survive most of the processes we use to make and cook food.

      From a pure chemical point of view, human DNA is no different from cow or lettuce DNA, so adding human DNA to food would not change the food at all.

      As Grant says the likely source of any human DNA would be from hair or skin falling into the food and the food industry takes many precautions to stop that from happening.

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