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Molecular biological species identification of animal samples from Asian buffets

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Abstract

In 2015, the Bavarian Health and Food Safety Authority (Bayerisches Landesamt für Gesundheit und Lebensmittelsicherheit) initiated controls of Asian buffets to verify declaration of animal species. Especially Mongolian buffets, where raw meat of partly exotic animal species is offered with side dishes and sauces, enjoy high popularity in Germany. A total of 27 samples were collected in 5 Bavarian cities including nine mammalian meat, 1 frog, 3 crocodile, 10 fish, 1 squid, 2 shrimp, and 1 mussel sample. All samples were analyzed using molecular biological methods. The animal species was identified by DNA sequencing of the mitochondrial genes cytochrome c oxidase subunit I, cytochrome b or 16S ribosomal DNA with subsequent database mining. From the 27 samples, 5 were objectionable with either wrong or incomplete labelling. These included two fish samples, two samples falsely declared as zebra which were in fact beef, one guanaco sample which was depicted as camel and another guanaco sample which was marketed as llama. The results clearly show the need for continued surveillance of meat species in buffets covering a wide variety of meats and seafood.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Miriam Schrempp, Marzena Maggipinto, Ulrike Hohenberger and Angelika Wahl for their excellent laboratory work. We also thank Dr. Azuka Iwobi for critically reading our manuscript. Furthermore, we would like to acknowledge the financial support of the Bavarian State Ministry of the Environment and Consumer Protection.

Funding

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Bavarian Health and Food Safety Authority, Veterinaerstrasse 2, 85764, Oberschleißheim, Germany

    Gesche Spielmann, Lars Gerdes, Andreas Miller, Katharina Verhaelen, Claus Schlicht, Barbara Schalch, Ulrich Busch & Ingrid Huber

  2. SNSB-Bavarian State Collection of Zoology, Muenchhausenstrasse 21, 81247, Munich, Germany

    Gerhard Haszprunar

Authors
  1. Gesche Spielmann
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  2. Lars Gerdes
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  3. Andreas Miller
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  4. Katharina Verhaelen
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  6. Barbara Schalch
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  7. Gerhard Haszprunar
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  8. Ulrich Busch
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  9. Ingrid Huber
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Correspondence to Ingrid Huber.

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Research involving human participants and/or animals

This article does not contain any studies with human participants performed by any of the authors. All applicable international, national, and/or institutional guidelines for the care and use of animals were followed.

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Spielmann, G., Gerdes, L., Miller, A. et al. Molecular biological species identification of animal samples from Asian buffets. J Consum Prot Food Saf 13, 271–278 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00003-018-1168-7

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