A novel method is
presented here as an analytical tool for food control and authentication of dairy
products manufactured from the milk of cow, shee
p, goat, and buffalo. The method is based on multi
plex
polymerase chain reaction (PCR) of s
pecies-s
pecific mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) targets followed by fragment size analysis by ca
pillary electro
phoresis. The method includes (a) simultaneous detection of four s
pecies, (b) internal control for DNA extraction and PCR, (c) mtDNA as a target for PCR, (d) am
plicons of <200 b
p, and (e) flexibility in the electro
phoresis and fragment size detection method. S
pecies identification
proved to be straightforward, efficient, sensitive, and robust. The method is sensitive to an at least 1% (v/v) relative
pro
portion of milk in binary mixtures. A survey of commercial
products showed that 12.5% failed to conform to the descri
ption of the contents, by either the introduction or absence of listed s
pecies, thus demonstrating the relevance of this ty
pe of testing.
Keywords:
p://pubs.acs.org/action/doSearch?action=search&searchText=species+identification&qsSearchArea=searchText">species identification; p://pubs.acs.org/action/doSearch?action=search&searchText=food+authentication&qsSearchArea=searchText">food authentication; p://pubs.acs.org/action/doSearch?action=search&searchText=multiplex+PCR&qsSearchArea=searchText">multiplex PCR; p://pubs.acs.org/action/doSearch?action=search&searchText=mtDNA&qsSearchArea=searchText">mtDNA; p://pubs.acs.org/action/doSearch?action=search&searchText=dairy+products&qsSearchArea=searchText">dairy products