Detection of animal DNA in vegan food by multiplex qPCR system.

Vegan food claims to be free of all animal material. This must be verified by the food control authority and the production control laboratory. The method must be sensitive and able to detect animal material after processing such as pasteurization and storage. We have, therefore, developed a multiplex qPCR to simultaneously detect animal, fish and plant DNA in food samples. The system is cost-efficient and exhibited a high sensitivity. The specificity tests confirmed that all relevant species are detected. The plant-specific system served as a DNA isolation control and was used to generate valid results. A large selection of market samples had been analyzed and showed the expected results and the robustness of this analytical tool in routine analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]