Summary Two TaqMan™‐polymerase chain reaction (PCR) systems have been developed which permit the detection of even minute amounts of beef and pork in processed foods. In these methods cattle‐specific primers amplified a fragment from the phosphodiesterase gene having a length of 104 base pairs (bp), and the swine‐specific primers amplified a fragment from the ryanodin gene having a length of 108 bp. Beyond this, a third TaqMan™‐PCR system, developed on the basis of the detection of the myostatin gene, permits a reliable exclusion of false‐negative results by detecting meat from a variety of mammals or poultry in the material to be tested.

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Different TaqMan TM -polymerase chain reaction systems have been developed, which allow the detection of even minute amounts of beef, pork, lamb, goat, chicken, turkey and duck in processed foods. The speciesspecific systems are able to amplify DNA regions with no more than 108 bp in size (exception: duck, 212 bp) located on the single-copy genes cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cyclic GMP) phosphodiesterase, ryanodine receptor and interleukin-2 precursor. The parallel detection of the common ingredient 'meat' produced from mammals and poultry was based on the amplification of a region of the myostatin gene. The limit of detection was determined to be ten genome copies for each system. The relative SD under repeatability condition was below 30%. In addition, a 'ready-to-use' reaction plate has been developed, which makes it possible to investigate the presence of the seven animal species in parallel after a single real-time run.

A method suitable for routine application was used in an interlaboratory study to detect irradiation treatment of chicken carcass, pork, and beef. By using gas chromatographic analysis, 17 participating laboratories determined the quantity of 4 different radiation-induced volatile hydrocarbons (tetradecene, pentadecane, hexadecadiene, and neptadecene) in the fat fraction of coded specimens approximately 3 and 6 months after irradiation. The specimens of each type of meat were supplied by 2 different producers. The dose range tested (0.6-7.5 kGy) included levels commercially used to reduce the number of contaminating microorganisms (1-5 kGy). The method employed permitted a correct identification of irradiated or nonirradiated in 98.3% of the 864 specimens.

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