Among the arsenal of police investigative tools, DNA testing is an increasingly potent weapon. Particularly when criminals help the police by helping themselves to the contents of the fridge at the crime scene.

In one case, a 43-year-old Kensington man was undone by a piece of fruit after he went on a burglary spree in the Ivanhoe area.

All four robberies were committed during the middle of the day, when nobody was home. The man stole about $14,000 in electrical goods, cash and jewellery to fund his drug habit.

There were no fingerprints left and no leads on a suspect. However, a partially eaten kiwi fruit discarded at one of the houses provided a clue.

The fruit was seized and sent to Victoria Police's high-tech forensics lab in Macleod for analysis.

DNA found on the fruit matched a known offender, who was arrested and charged with the burglaries and thefts. He was jailed for two years.

When interviewed, the man could not believe that he had been betrayed by his appetite.

In a study released in the Archives of Oral Biology last year, researchers found that DNA from saliva could still be present on food even when left at room temperature for 15 hours.

The study tested people eating Fuji apples, chocolate doughnuts and Manchego cheese. The cheese preserved the most DNA.

Peta Stringer, of Victoria Police's Forensic Services Department, said there was no doubt forensic science played a crucial role in modern policing.

"The process of DNA profiling is relatively straightforward - many crime scene items can be swabbed at the scene and the swabs are then sent for testing," she said.

"Whether an offender leaves behind a trail of crumbs or the most minor of DNA traces, Victoria Police's highly skilled forensic scientists can use state-of-the-art technology to try to identify offenders."

With the role of forensics technology becoming more pivotal, police in Victoria will soon be given increased powers to take DNA samples from suspects of indictable offences without court approval.

Regional police will also get a boost to their DNA capabilities, with two new forensics hubs to be built outside Melbourne.

One of those labs will be in the Latrobe Valley, where another criminal was given up by his gluttony.

In that case, a crop sitter denied knowledge after police found him in a house full of cannabis plants and hydroponic growing equipment in Morwell.

But the man was jailed for 10 months after his DNA was located on cans of Coke and a grass jelly drink left in the house.

Fairfax Media has been told about a whole range of foodstuffs tested for DNA by forensics investigators, including an ice-cream stick left in a freezer, a half-eaten hamburger, a Cherry Ripe, and a biscuit found on the floor of a burgled factory.

Earlier this month, the Dandenong Journal reported on a wrongdoer who pleaded guilty after a string of burglaries and thefts in Noble Park and Springvale.

The thief was arrested after police found his DNA on a Coles juice box that was taken from a fridge and discarded on the floor of a burgled house.

In that case the offender was left with only prison food to look forward to.