To a computer, pattern recognition is pattern recognition, whether on a string of DNA or a customer database.

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Brakes said one positive test at 1% horse DNA was reported by a customer of Creative Foods for a lasagne made exclusively for that outlet.

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DeCode agreed to buy 100, 000 DNA chips, more than any customer had ever bought.

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One of their programs displays stretches of DNA in a three-dimensional color format that a customer can use, for example, to pinpoint the genetic differences between healthy and cancerous prostate tissue.

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No single customer represented more than 10% of those sales--meaning Merck could well be the largest consumer of DNA chips in the world.

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