Authenticity Determination of Goat Cheese In Mexico Using qPCR Assay

Abstract

In recent years, the Mexican government has implemented several economic sanctions on producers and marketers of milk bovine cheese due to food fraud such as mislabeling or addition of vegetable fats. However, there have been no official reports on the authenticity of goat cheese. This research aimed to detect adulteration in goat cheese by terms of food substitution with bovine milk or soy protein. For which, bovine cytochrome b genes (274 bp) and lectin genes (118 bp) were amplified in 12 commercial brands of goat cheese by real-time PCR (qPCR) where the detection limit for each species was assigned to the lowest concentration detected with a confidence level ≥ 95% being 0.01 ng/µL for bovine milk, and 0.1 ng/µL for soy DNA. Research findings indicate the absence of soy protein; however, a high degree of adulteration with bovine milk (92.3%) was found. The above evidence suggests the need for regulatory agencies to improve verification and traceability mechanisms to ensure the authenticity of these products and protect consumers by providing reliable information.