Is that a real piece of Barramundi on your dinner plate? Or a ring-in fillet of Nile Perch?
And that supermarket Wagyu eye fillet - what makes that so special? And where did those berries come from?
Questions that people may soon be using smart phones to answer in the supermarket aisles - in a bid to ensure their food purchases are what they purport to be.
Not only that, but it will be feasible to track food back to the farm where it came from – or the fishing crew who caught it.
CSI-like dinner plate apps are on their way and may change the way you shop or order your food.
A WA expert has been working on a food traceability project for the meat industry for the past six years and he also consults to the seafood and wine industries. He said it was an issue that was becoming increasingly important to consumers.
"People are vitally interested as to where their food has come from to give them more confidence about its authenticity and the environment that it was raised in," Professor Garry Lee said.
"They may want to know that it was organically and ethically raised, that it came from a free range environment or that it was locally produced".
Professor Lee, with a Chinese background, said the technology also offered tremendous marketing potential in export markets.
"I visit China regularly where there is a strong demand for imported food that can prove its provenance," he said.
"This technology could help provide that evidence and unlock those markets."
The global market for food traceability technology is said to be worth some $11 billion a year.
The former UWA science professor and CSIRO project manager said traceability projects like his involved huge scientific and technological challenges.
"Apart from mapping the entire supply chain and converting it into databases, you need to drill down into each and every step to capture even greater levels of detail," Professor Lee said.
He also said that an equal challenge was the science behind it.
"In a sense you need to be able to determine the genetic and chemical fingerprint of any food."
"Rigorous science is a major key to unlocking the viability of food traceability technologies," he said.
Professor Lee said his approach would enable him to say with reasonable certainty where a product had come from.
"If there were 100 farms, the technology could exclude 99 per cent of them with a 95 per cent probabilty. That would suggest the one where it was most likely to have come from. It's a bit like DNA matching in this regard."
Professor Lee said that his project had the potential to become a consumer app in the future but there was still significant work to be done.
"We are constantly adding data and improving the science," he said.
Professor Lee warned food producers to be cautious and to do their due diligence when offered food traceability products and services.
"More and more people are jumping onboard, claiming to offer the science and technology to deliver consumer apps. Supply chain projects like this are huge challenges and take time, patience and commitment to bring them to market," he said.
"An app in itself is comparatively easy to produce but without the research, science and technology, it's likely to be a gimmick of limited value."
Russell Blaikie, chef and partner of the award-winning Must Wine Bar in Highgate, and Muster in Margaret River, said he only saw a very limited use for such an app in a restaurant setting.
"My reputation is based on my integrity and customers trust me that what is on the menu is what is on their plate," he said.
Mr Blaikie said that as far as the supply chain was concerned, he had long-standing relationships with his suppliers that were based on trust and deep product knowledge.
"I've been working with them for a long time and know the full story on everything that we purchase," he said.
Mr Blaikie did believe, however, that food traceability apps could find their niche in a supermarket retail setting.
"I think it would be really helpful to be able to scan food items before purchase and confirm their provenance. I think that would provide consumers with great confidence," he said.
"I'd use it for that," he said.
