Abstract
Animal species identification is one of the primary duties of official food control. Since ostrich meat is difficult to be differentiated macroscopically from beef, therefore new analytical methods are needed. To enforce labeling regulations for the authentication of ostrich meat, it might be of importance to develop and evaluate a rapid and reliable assay. In the present study, a loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) assay based on the cytochrome b gene of the mitochondrial DNA of the species Struthio camelus was developed. The LAMP assay was used in combination with a real-time fluorometer. The developed system allowed the detection of 0.01% ostrich meat products. In parallel, a direct swab method without nucleic acid extraction using the HYPLEX LPTV buffer was also evaluated. This rapid processing method allowed detection of ostrich meat without major incubation steps. In summary, the LAMP assay had excellent sensitivity and specificity for detecting ostrich meat and could provide a sampling-to-result identification-time of 15 to 20 minutes.
Highlights
In Europe, ostrich meat has been consumed since the times of the Roman Empire
Using the oligonucleotide primer set designed for ostrich meat, all 31 ostrich meat DNA samples were identified correctly positive
The amplification rate and the analytical sensitivity of the loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) assay were calculated on the basis of a dilution row, the amount of the DNA ranging from 35 ng/ml (100) to 0.35 pg/ml (1025) for ostrich meat DNA
Summary
In Europe, ostrich meat has been consumed since the times of the Roman Empire. farming (for meat and leather) started in the 1860s. Ostriches are farmed inside and outside Africa, and ostrich meat has become a popular foodstuff, mostly because of its low fat and low cholesterol content and as an alternative during the worldwide bovine spongiforme enzephalopathie (BSE) crisis during the 1990s. Outbreaks of avian epidemic in traditional ostrich-farming countries (e.g. South Africa) have lead to trade bans with important trade partners, e.g. the EU. This has, on the one hand, lead to shifts in the international ostrich meat trade. Ostrich farmers in temperate zones have benefited from this development, European production is still far from being self-sufficient. Germany, where ostrich meat is relatively popular due to its nutritional properties, relies on both imported and local productions
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