A simple and sensitive NGS-based method for pork detection in complex food samples

Food adulteration is a serious concern faced by the importers of various food products across the globe. In this study, a simple, sensitive and robust method for detecting pork in processed/complex food samples using next-generation DNA sequencing (NGS) technology is described. The experimentation involves a generalized library preparation kit for performing shotgun sequencing of the genomic DNA irrespective of its intactness. The method was applied on different complex food samples containing pork along with other species (up to twelve) as well as without pork to test the specificity of the method. The DNA sequences were mapped with the online NCBI nucleotide database for their identification followed by a calculation of the relative abundance of the reads. The adulteration of pork was correctly identified in the analyzed samples. Although the relative abundance of pork DNA reads could not make a precise quantitative relevance with the contributed amount of the tissue sample, yet this method has the potential to determine extremely low as well as high contents of adulterating/contaminating species in complex food products.