A Molecular Procedure for Detecting Dairy Products Adulteration

Abstract

Dairy products are an essential component of human nutrition and therefore are prone to adulteration. Although many methods have been developed based on the analysis of protein substances by which adulteration is detected, they have low efficiency in the case of processed products. In this context, methods based on DNA analysis have become the best choice, although the results are not universally valid and must be adapted to the composition and local specificities. Here is presented a study of the applicability of a fast and cost-effective DNA-based method to determine the species composition of dairy products by performing a qualitative triplex PCR detection technique in the analysis of local dairy products. The procedure is adapted to the domestic market and considers experimental models developed and well defined internationally. In the in-house validation of this method, three species of ruminants were considered: beef, sheep, and goat. The reference material was represented by cheeses prepared in our laboratory in strictly controlled percentage mixtures. Total genomic DNA isolated from the reference cheeses were used to develop a triplex PCR method, which involves the simultaneous detection of the three species studied using a mixture of three pairs of primers. The reference materials proved to be optimal for such studies and have been used successfully in the process of validating the method of detecting the composition of commercial cheeses.