Multiplex real-time PCR for the detection and quantification of DNA from duck, goose, chicken, turkey and pork

Meat products made from liver of poultry like duck and goose are popular and often sold as specialities for high prices. As the prices for the basic raw material are high, fraud may be attractive for producers. To prevent consumers from fraud, official control authorities survey such products. In this work, a quantitative multiplex PCR was developed determining the proportion of DNA and meat fractions of turkey, chicken, duck, goose and pork. The precision and accuracy of the PCR system was investigated. To examine the possibility of determining the meat fractions according to the recipe, reference material was produced and different liver-meat products from the market were analysed. For major components, the measurement uncertainty revealed to be at 39 %. For minor components, it was estimated to be 124 %. The results showed that this pentaplex real-time-PCR system is suitable to control the meat properties of such products although measurement uncertainty may be high.