IDENTIFICATION AND DIFFERENTIATION OF CATTLE AND BUFFALO PROCESSED MEAT BY DUPLEX-PCR

The duplex-PCR technique, proposed to identify and differentiate cattle and water buffalo DNA using primers described by Rea et al. (2001) for identification of cattle and buffalo DNA in Italian cheese, was tested on mitochondrial DNA extracted from meat muscle samples. The optimized PCR amplified 113 bp and 152 bp products for cattle and buffalo respectively. Meat processing technology (salting, drying, smoking, and cooking) affects the integrity of the extractable DNA. Also many times meat samples are brought to the laboratory for speciation one or two days after slaughter under unpreserved conditions So different levels of autolysis were experimentally produced, and PCR successfully amplified cyt b gene from meat samples that were putrefied even after 48 h and cooked at various conditions. The technique was successful in detecting up to 1 pg adulteration in a cattle-buffalo meat mixture. The test is a valuable tool for meat authentication and screening of cooked, putrefied and mixed samples of cattle and buffalo flesh.