For animal welfare
Verifying animal welfare and quality claims in meat
Transparency in meat production is increasingly demanded by consumers, retailers, and regulators. Yet verifying claims about animal welfare, farming conditions, or product origin remains difficult.
While the industry relies on infrequent audits and paper-based trails, EpiTrace looks directly at the biological source.
We decode epigenetic signatures in meat and verify production claims directly from the meat itself.
Why it matters: The trust gap in our meat supply chain
Demand for ethically produced and sustainable meat is growing worldwide. However, trust in existing verification systems remains limited.
The need: 90% of EU consumers want higher animal welfare standards, and 69% are willing to pay a premium for them.
The reality: Meat is one of the top 3 most frequently adulterated food categories.
The trust gap: 88% of consumers (in Germany) do not trust supermarket welfare claims.
These challenges are not surprising. Meat products pass through long supply chains: from farm to slaughterhouse, processing, transport, and packaging. Along the way, documentation can be lost, misapplied, or falsified.
Digital tracking systems and blockchain can improve documentation, but they still depend on the integrity of recorded data.
EpiTrace aims to address the problem at a different level: the biology of the product itself.
Our solution: the proof is in the product
EpiTrace offers the first biomolecular verification method that works directly on the endproduct.
Everything an animal experiences leaves measurable traces in its biology. Environmental conditions, nutrition, stress, and health influence epigenetic markers.
EpiTrace decodes these markers.
Using our patented epigenetic analysis, we can examine a small sample of meat and identify biological signatures that reflect aspects of the animal’s life and farming conditions.
This enables verification of claims such as:
- Animal welfare and farming conditions
- Production systems and husbandry levels
- Geographic or production origin
- Animal health indicators
- Certain slaughter and production standards (e.g., Halal)
Because these signals are embedded in the biology of the animal, they cannot be altered by paperwork or relabeling. The product itself becomes the evidence.
The epigenetic advantage
Compared with traditional verification systems, biomolecular testing provides several advantages:
- Product-based verification: Instead of auditing farms or reviewing paperwork, verification is performed directly on the meat.
- Objective biological data: Epigenetic markers provide quantitative information derived from the animal itself.
- Efficiency and scalability: Testing can complement or reduce the need for frequent in-person farm inspections.
- Outcome-based welfare indicators: Current systems often focus on housing rules or management practices. Epigenetic signals reflect the animal’s actual biological response to its environment.
- Versatility: Our methods currently apply to chicken and cattle, with expansion to additional species under development. They are also relevant for specialized markets such as Halal certification, premium breeds (e.g., Wagyu), and origin-protected products.
Applications across the supply chain
EpiTrace works towards creating a new layer of transparency that can support multiple actors in the meat system.
Retail and food brands
- Brand protection through independent verification of animal welfare labels
- Protection against supply-chain fraud
- Strengthening consumer trust
Governments, regulators and NGOs
- Additional tools for enforcing welfare and labeling regulations
- Resource-efficient verification for imported meat
- Support for emerging policy frameworks
Producers and certification systems
- Demonstrating compliance with welfare standards
- Verifying the origin or quality of premium products
- Understanding how farming practices influence biological outcomes
Supporting emerging regulatory frameworks
As governments introduce stricter rules for livestock production, the need for reliable verification tools will increase.
EpiTrace is working towards being able to support compliance with policies such as:
- Animal welfare labeling schemes
- Traceability and origin requirements
- Production system restrictions (e.g., cage bans, white veal ban)
- Transport and slaughter regulations
- Corporate sustainability commitments
Our technology can also help monitor compliance with national frameworks such as the German Tierhaltungskennzeichnungsgesetz and international policy developments linked to the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Transparency built on scientific research
EpiTrace is being developed by scientists at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) with expertise in molecular biology and epigenetics.
Our patented technology is based on years of research and has already demonstrated proof-of-concept results. For example, we have successfully distinguished chicken meat samples originating from different farming conditions based on their epigenetic signatures.
Decoding animal lives
Everything an animal experiences becomes part of its biology, and ultimately part of the food we eat.
By decoding these biological signatures, EpiTrace provides a new scientific tool for transparency, accountability, and better decision-making in livestock production.
Moving from subjective audits to objective epigenetic data will open up new possibilities for improving animal welfare, ensuring product integrity, and strengthening trust across the food system.
If you are interested in collaborating or participating in our pilot projects to build a more transparent and sustainable food system, we would be happy to hear from you.
FAQ
How reliable are current food traceability systems for animal welfare claims?
Traditional food traceability systems excel at logistics tracking (supply chain route tracing) but fail at biological verification (animal welfare monitoring). According to data from the Food Authenticity Network, meat and poultry products consistently rank among the top three food categories globally for food fraud cases.
While paperwork tracks a product's destination, it cannot verify how an animal actually lived. This has created a severe consumer trust deficit:
• High Demand: 90% of European consumers demand stricter animal welfare standards, and 69% are willing to pay a premium price for verified products (BEUC data).
• Low Trust: 88% of consumers do not trust the animal welfare promises made by major supermarkets (Albert Schweitzer Stiftung data).
What makes biological verification more reliable than paperwork?
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Paperwork-based supply chain tracing is an input-based system vulnerable to document fraud, human error, and separation from the physical product during transport. Farm audits only provide a single-day snapshot of physical assets (e.g., whether a barn has windows), completely ignoring the animal's physiological state. In contrast, EpiTrace provides an outcome-based biological verification method. By analyzing the end-product directly, we bypass the paperwork trail entirely.
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Can EpiTrace detect paperwork fraud or greenwashing in the meat supply chain?
Yes. Premium meat labeled with high-welfare or sustainable certifications commands higher price points, making it a primary target for food fraud and greenwashing. Because EpiTrace analyzes data embedded within the biological tissue, our analysis is completely unaffected by altered documents or fraudulent certificates. If a supplier mixes low-welfare meat with a certified batch, our laboratory testing immediately flags the discrepancy from the final consumer product.
How does epigenetics improve food supply chain transparency?
Epigenetics introduces a definitive, independent audit mechanism to the food supply chain. Rather than relying on a stack of self-reported documents or third-party certifications, retailers and compliance officers can use EpiTrace to implement random spot-testing directly on store shelves, establishing absolute product integrity from farm to fork.
How does epigenetic testing work on meat?
Every environmental exposure, including husbandry conditions, climate stress, and nutrition, leaves a permanent biochemical footprint on an animal's genome. EpiTrace analyzes DNA methylation, a biological process where chemical tags attach to millions of sites across the livestock genome. This creates a stable epigenetic signature that functions as an unalterable biological record of an individual animal's life history.
Because these DNA methylation marks are highly stable and survive post-mortem processing, EpiTrace can seamlessly extract and analyze epigenetic signatures from fresh meat, frozen tissue, and processed meat products.
How can animal welfare claims be verified scientifically from meat samples? How can animal welfare claims be verified scientifically from meat samples?
Chronic stress, high stocking density, and poor handling alter an animal's physiology, forcing its body to adapt. These long-term physiological changes are permanently logged in its DNA methylation patterns. By running high-resolution scans of these distinct epigenetic signatures, EpiTrace decodes the animal’s lifetime stress history. This is currently the only scientific method capable of validating livestock welfare claims directly from the final meat product.
Can this technology support animal welfare labeling laws?
Yes. EpiTrace is uniquely positioned to validate compliance with mandatory animal welfare labeling regulations, such as the German Tierhaltungskennzeichnungsgesetz (TierHaltKennzG).
While the TierHaltKennzG requires clear labeling of livestock farming conditions, current enforcement relies on paper trails and manual farm audits. Industry data shows that current auditing bodies lack the staff, budget, and infrastructure to monitor farms at the mandated frequency. EpiTrace provides regulatory bodies with an automated, scalable laboratory tool to enforce labeling compliance at processing facilities and retail hubs.
Can epigenetics confirm organic or high-welfare meat claims?
Yes. By cross-referencing a meat sample's epigenetic signature against our extensive reference database, EpiTrace can clearly differentiate between animals raised in standard industrial systems versus those raised under organic, pasture-based, or high-welfare protocols.
Can premium meat products like Wagyu beef be authenticated through epigenetics?
Yes, genetics and epigenetics provide complementary data layers for luxury food authentication:
- Genetic Testing: Confirms the breed, lineage, and genetic purity of the animal (e.g., full-blood Wagyu).
- Epigenetic Testing (EpiTrace): Authenticates environmental factors, including the precise feeding regimen, geographical origin, and regional climate conditions, ensuring consumers receive the authentic premium product they paid for.
Can epigenetics be used to trace the origin and farming conditions of imported meat products?
Yes. EpiTrace can audit imported meat products at international borders or distribution hubs to verify that the geographical origin and foreign farming conditions match the stated customs declarations and commercial labeling.
Can epigenetics verify halal meat compliance?
Yes. EpiTrace has established scientific proof-of-concept data demonstrating that physiological responses to specific slaughter methods leave clear biological markers. We can differentiate between compliant Halal processing and non-compliant methods, providing a data-driven validation layer for Halal certification bodies.