A test for assessing pork adulteration in meatballs, using TaqMan probe real-time polymerase chain reaction, was developed. The assay combined porcine-specific primers and TaqMan probe for the detection of a 109 bp fragment of porcine cytochrome b gene. Specificity test with 10 ng DNA of eleven different species yielded a threshold cycle (Ct) of 15.5 ± 0.20 for the pork and negative results for the others. Analysis of beef meatballs with spiked pork showed the assay can determine 100-0.01% contaminated pork with 102% PCR efficiency, high linear regression (r(2) = 0.994) and ≤ 6% relative errors. Residuals analysis revealed a high precision in all determinations. Random analysis of commercial meatballs from pork, beef, chicken, mutton and goat, yielded a Ct between 15.89 ± 0.16 and 16.37 ± 0.22 from pork meatballs and negative results from the others, showing the suitability of the assay to determine pork in commercial meatballs with a high accuracy and precision.
A method for species identification from pork and lard samples using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis of a conserved region in the mitochondrial (mt) cytochrome b (cyt b) gene has been developed. Genomic DNA of pork and lard were extracted using Qiagen DNeasy(®) Tissue Kits and subjected to PCR amplification targeting the mt cyt b gene. The genomic DNA from lard was found to be of good quality and produced clear PCR products on the amplification of the mt cyt b gene of approximately 360 base pairs. To distinguish between species, the amplified PCR products were cut with restriction enzyme BsaJI resulting in porcine-specific restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLP). The cyt b PCR-RFLP species identification assay yielded excellent results for identification of pig species. It is a potentially reliable technique for detection of pig meat and fat from other animals for Halal authentication.