IDENTIFICACIÓN GENÉTICA DE BOVINO, PORCINO Y EQUINO EN PRODUCTOS DE ORIGEN ANIMAL

Abstract

The identification of species in animal-origin food is highly important in both quality and food safety issues. Adulteration in food is relevant for economic, religious, legislative or public health reasons. The objective of this study focused on identifying animal species (cattle, pigs and horses) in meat products in order to determine adulteration in the sale of mortadella (MO), hot dog (HD), pressed pork crackling (CP), chorizo (CH) and ham (JA). DNA was extracted from 5 different regions of each sausage and PCR was performed using species-specific primers. The species-specific region PCR amplicon was 271, 212 and 145 bp for cattle, pig, and horse meat, respectively. H.D was the only product amplified by the bovine-specific primers. The C.P and CH were amplified by the pig primers, since both products contained meat of this species. No amplification was observed in MO, H.D and JA, despite the fact that these included pork, according to the label declared by the company. These results show the existence of adulteration in the sale of these products. In the case of equine primers, no meat product has been amplified. It is concluded that there was a possible presence of adulteration in certain products, which represents a potential risk to public health and economic losses for consumers.