Methods for the detection of beef and pork in foods using real-time polymerase chain reaction

Two TaqMan(TM)-polymerase chain reaction (PCR) systems have been developed which permit the detection of even minute amounts of beef and pork in processed foods. In these methods cattle-specific primers amplified a fragment from the phosphodiesterase gene having a length of 104 base pairs (bp), and the swine-specific primers amplified a fragment from the ryanodin gene having a length of 108 bp. Beyond this, a third TaqMan(TM)-PCR system, developed on the basis of the detection of the myostatin gene, permits a reliable exclusion of false-negative results by detecting meat from a variety of mammals or poultry in the material to be tested.