Digestable 'Barcode' Can Track Your Food

A government lab has come up with a new technology to track down the source of tainted foods, hoping to limit or prevent food-borne illness.

To do this, scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory have created particles comprised of sugar and non-viable DNA. They call it DNATrax.

The lab reports DNATrax will act like an invisible "barcode" that can be sprayed on fresh produce or mixed into liquid or dried foods.

It's an odorless and tasteless substance, and the Food and Drug Administration has already approved it for human consumption.

DNATrax can also be used to hunt down the source of fraudulent food, like mislabeled olive oil, using similar tracking methods. 

The government says it's a harmless technology, but consumer privacy expert Katherine Albrecht told CBN News she has concerns about what this invisible tracking device could mean for government invasions of privacy in the future.

"The deeper they get into tracking individual products and individuals who purchase those products I think the deeper they're doing to get into every aspect of what we buy and what we do," she said.

For more of Katherine Albrecht's analysis, click the player to see our entire interview with her.