Abd-Eltawab, Samah Ahmed; Hafez, Nabil; Khalil, Khalil Ibrahim; Bakry, Nada; Abd-El Halim, Amany

doi:10.21608/ejfs.2024.315880.1191

"Enhanced Detection and Quantification of Pork Adulteration in Canned Beef Using Real-Time PCR and Thiamine Profiling: A Comparative Study"

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

¹ food science and technology, faculty of Agriculture, Fayoum university, Fayoum, Egypt.

² Food science and technology department, faculty of agric, Fayoum University, Fayoum, Egypt.

³ Food Science and technology dept., Faculty of agric., Fayoum Universirt, Fayoum, Egypt.

⁴ Home Economics Department, Faculty of Specific Education

10.21608/ejfs.2024.315880.1191

Abstract

In Egypt, it is against the law to adulterate meat products, particularly those that are imported and frequently laced with fat or pork. However, it is challenging to identify pork flesh or fat. This study utilized two methods for identifying fat and pork meat in canned beef products. The first approach used high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) to estimate the thiamine concentration, and the second applied real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT‒PCR) to identify the pork DNA in the meat products. Forty arbitrary samples of local or imported canned beef items were collected from a nearby market in Fayoum Governorate, Egypt. Using RT‒PCR and thiamine screening methods, the results demonstrated that 50.0% and 25.0% of the samples that were collected were adulterated with pork flesh, respectively. Additionally, RT‒PCR was a more efficient approach for detecting adulteration of canned meat at a level up to > 5.0%, whereas the other methods could not detect adulteration at a level greater than 10.0%.

Keywords