Basmati rice imported into the EU and UK is subject to regulations (whereby nine approved Basmatis have tariff free status) and by the industry Code of Practice (CoP) to ensure that it is accurately described and presented for sale so as not to mislead the consumer.
In 2017, the number of approved Basmati varieties was revised and increased from 15 to 41, and the CoP was updated to reflect this (Rice Association 2017). However, concerns were raised within the rice industry that the increased number of Basmati rice varieties coming onto the market may not all be identifiable with currently used DNA markers.
There were also concerns that some of the new varieties could have a more distant relationship to landrace varieties than the previously approved Basmati varieties. Authentication of Basmati rice has relied on microsatellite markers since 2004, but unfortunately microsatellites cannot distinguish between all of the forty-one Basmati varieties approved in 2017.
ALL Biosciences provides single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) and insertion/deletion (InDel) variations developed into KASP (Kompetitive Allele Specific PCR) can be used to distinguish between all commercial Basmati varieties precisely.