Species – specific PCR test for the quick recognition of equine tissue in raw and processed beef meat mixtures

Abstract

PCR was applied for the discovery of adulteration of crude and processed beef meat with horse and donkey tissue. This was performed by blending (w/w) horse or donkey meat to beef meat in an extent up to 1:10000 (0.01%). The sensitivity was resolved as high as 0.01%. All used primers showed specificity in the PCR reactions utilizing layout DNAs from three animal species. PCR application on 96 beef meat and meat product samples gathered randomly from street vendors and prominent retail markets (24 of burger, 16 of minced meat, 24 of kofta, 16 of sausage, 7 of raw meat and 9 of launcheon) uncovered 6 positive for donkey tissue (3 from sausage, 2 from minced meat and 1 from kofta) and 2 positive for horse tissue (from sausage). This basic PCR strategy effectively distinguished adulteration of raw and processed beef meat samples with horse and donkey tissue. This work also highlights on the severity of the meat adulteration problem in Egypt.

Bacteriological assessment and multiplex-PCR test for the detection of meat adulteration of different animal species

“…Substitution to illegally used species is so difficult to identify by visual inspection after grinding and/or heat processing in such products (Abd El-Nasser et al, 2010). In the past, few specialists in Egypt had confirmed adulteration with donkey and horse meat (Mousa et al, 2017;Abd El-Razik et al, 2019).…”

“…Abd El-Razik et al (2019) pointed to the question of meat adulteration in Egypt by applying species-specific PCRs to identify donkey and horse tissue in beef meat and meat products without the need to incorporate RFLP or sequencing, and do not require expensive tools such as real-time PCR analyses.…”

Fraud in Animal Origin Food Products: Advances in Emerging Spectroscopic Detection Methods over the Past Five Years

“…The species-specific PCR method has been used to a great extent for meat species identification in foods because of its high specificity and rapidity. For instance, El-Razik and co-authors used a species-specific PCR test to differentiate donkey and horse tissue in cooked beef meat products in Egypt [137]. In another study, a species-specific PCR was developed for the identification of beef in India [138].…”

Liquid Chromatography–mass Spectrometry Bottom‐up Proteomic Methods in Animal Species Analysis of Processed Meat for Food Authentication and the Detection of Adulterations

“…Most reviewed papers show their application mainly to raw or mildly processed meat (baked or cooked), as DNA fragmentation is not observed there (Nalazek-Rudnicka et al, 2019). Abd El-Razik et al (2018) used a species-specific PCR test for differentiation of donkey and horse tissue in beef cooked meat products. Naaum et al (2018) proposed an application of droplet digital PCR conducted to identify the species present in commercial meat products and the differentiation of turkey and chicken in processed meat.…”