Abstract
Considering that the authentication of food contents is one of the most important issues for the food quality sector, and given the increasing demand for transparency in the meat industry followed the horsemeat scandal in Europe, this study investigates processed-meat products from Italian markets and supermarkets using the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene qualitative PCR identification system in order to verify any species substitution or mislabeling. The results revealed a high substitution rate among the meat products, highlighting a mislabeling rate of 57 %, and consequently, considerable discordance with the indications on the labels, which raises significant food-safety and consumer-protection concerns.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
References
Aida AA, Che Man YB, Raha AR, Son R (2007) Detection of pig derivatives in food products for halal authentication by polymerase chain reaction restriction fragment length polymorphism. J Sci Food Agr 87:569–572
Ali ME, Hashim U, Mustafa S, Che Man YB, DhahiThS KM (2012) Analysis of pork adulteration in commercial meatballs targeting porcine-specific mitochondrial cytochrome b gene by TaqMan probe real-time polymerase chain reaction. Meat Sci 91:454–459
Amaral JS, Santos CG, Melo VS, Oliveira MBPP, Mafra I (2014) Authentication of a traditional game meat sausage (Alheira) by species-specific PCR assays to detect hare, rabbit, red deer, pork and cow meats. Food Res Int 60:140–145
Ballin NZ (2010) Authentication of meat and meat products. Meat Sci 86:577–587
Ballin NZ, Vogensen FK, Karlsson AH (2009) Species determination — Can we detect and quantify meat adulteration? Meat Sci 83:165–174
Cawthorn DM, Steinman HA, Hoffman LC (2013) A high incidence of species substitution and mislabelling detected in meat products sold in South Africa. Food Control 32:440–449
Di Pinto A, Forte VT, Conversano MC, Tantillo G (2005) Duplex polymerase chain reaction (D-PCR) for detection of pork meat in horse meat fresh sausages from Italian retail sources. Food Control 16:391–394
Di Pinto A, Di Pinto P, Terio V, Bozzo G, Bonerba E, Ceci E, Tantillo G (2013) DNA barcoding for detecting market substitution in salted cod fillets and battered cod chunks. Food Chem 141:1757–1762
Doosti A, Dehkordi PG, Rahimi E (2014) Molecular assay to fraud identification of meat products. J Food Sci Tech 51:148–152
EFSA (European Food Safety Authority) (2013) Scientific Opinion on the public health risks related to mechanically separated meat (MSM) derived from poultry and swine. EFSA Journal 11(3):31–37
Fajardo V, González I, Rojas M, García T, Martín R (2010) A review of current PCR-based methodologies for the authentication of meats from game animal species. Trends Food Sci Tech 21:408–421
Ghovvati S, Nassiri MR, Mirhoseini SZ, HeraviMoussavi A, Javadmanesh A (2009) Fraud identification in industrial meat products by multiplex PCR assay. Food Control 20:696–699
Karlsson AO, Holmlund G (2007) Identification of mammal species using species-specific DNA pyrosequencing. Forensic Sci Int 173:16–20
Linacre A (2012) Capillary electrophoresis of mtDNA cyt b gene for animal species identification. Methods Mol Biol 830:321–329
Lopez-Andreo M, Garrido-Pertierra A, Puyet A (2006) Evaluation of post-polymerase chain reaction melting temperature analysis for meat species identification in mixed DNA samples. J Agr Food Chem 54:7973–7978
Mafra I, Ferreira IMPLVO, Oliveira MBPP (2008) Food authentication by PCR-based methods. Eur Food Res Tech 227:649–665
Marín A, Fujimoto T, Arai K (2013) Rapid species identification of fresh and processed scallops by multiplex PCR. Food Control 32:472–476
Matsunaga T, Chikuni K, Tanabe R, Muroya S, Shibata K, Yamada J (1999) A quick and simple method for the identification of meat species and meat products by PCR assay. Meat Sci 51:143–148
Nakyinsige K, Che Man YB, Sazili AQ (2012) Halal authenticity issues in meat and meat products. Meat Sci 91:207–214
Ortea I, Pascoal A, Cañas B, Gallardo JM, Velázquez JB, Calo-Mata P (2012) Food authentication of commercially relevant shrimp and prawn species: From classical methods to Foodomics. Electrophoresis 33:2201–2211
Premanandh J (2013) Horse meat scandal-A wake-up call for regulatory authorities. Food Control 34:568–569
Reid LM, O’Donnell CP, Downey G (2006) Recent technological advances for the determination of food authenticity. Trends Food Sci Tech 17:344–353
Sakalar E, Abasiyanik MF, Bektik E, Tayyrow A (2012) Effect of heat processing on DNA quantification of meat species. J Food Sci 77:N40–N44
Singh VP, Neelam S (2011) Meat species specifications to ensure the quality of meat: a review. Int J Meat Sci 92:15–26
Soares S, Amaral JS, Oliveira MBPP, Mafra I (2013) A SYBR Green real-time PCR assay to detect and quantify pork meat in processed poultry meat products. Meat Sci 94:115–120
Spink J, Moyer DC (2011) Defining the public health threat of food fraud. J Food Sci 76:157–163
Tanabe S, Miyauchi E, Muneshige A, Mio K, Sato C, Sato M (2007) PCR method of detecting pork in foods for verifying allergen labeling and for identifying hidden pork ingredients in processed foods. Biosci Biotech Bioch 71:1663–1667
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Di Pinto, A., Bottaro, M., Bonerba, E. et al. Occurrence of mislabeling in meat products using DNA-based assay. J Food Sci Technol 52, 2479–2484 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13197-014-1552-y
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13197-014-1552-y