Vol. 12, Special Issue 9 (2023)

Author(s):
Sohail Ahmed, C Siva Swetha, A Jagadeesh Babu, S Vijaya Lakshmi, M Venkata Lakshmi and PV Siddartha

Abstract:
Proper identification and authentication of food are essential due to economical, public health and religious concerns. Meat speciation has garnered increased prominence in recent years due to surge in deceptive practices involving acts like substitution of premium quality meat with inferior counterparts primarily motivated by economic incentives. This study includes identification and authentication of four commonly consumed meats in India viz., Chicken, Mutton, Beef and Pork employing primers which specifically target the mitochondrial genes of these species in the PCR assay obtaining the desired amplicons of 183 bp, 263 bp, 106 bp and 73 bp respectively. Among the studied 260 samples no adulteration was noticed and all the samples were identified correctly employing the multiplex assay. Meat admixtures were prepared to assess the effectiveness of the selected species-specific primers in identification of adulteration. These meat admixtures when subjected to PCR assay revealed these primers could identify adulteration at levels as low as 0.1% for pork and up to 1% for chicken, mutton and beef samples.