Species Identification of Canned Meat Products by Using DNA-Based Methods.

Fraud among different meats became great issue concerns of economical and hygienic aspects. Canned meat products are widely adulterated for economically motivated. The objective of the current study was to test a variety of canned meat products sold on the Iraq/Basrah commercial market to assure the authenticity of meat products for quality and safety purposes. Twenty seven canned meat samples were purchased from supermarkets. They were targeting cattle, sheep, goat, horse, donkey, and chicken for the possibility of a species mixture. DNA was extracted from each sample in triplicate and tested using DNA-based method. Samples analysed in the current study were found to be mislabeled. Meat species (chicken and beef) were detected in the samples collected from supermarkets that are not declared in their labels. Overall, the mislabeling identified in the current study either due to mixing of cheaper meat species into more expensive or mixing of meat species during processing due to cross-contamination, unintentionally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]