Meat has been identified as one of the food categories at most risk of food fraud. Meat species substitution has been in the spotlight with the European horse meat scandal in 2013. Analysis of cases reported on the web shows that incidents of meat substitution are still recurring worldwide. Altogether these cases highlight significant weaknesses in the supply chain transparency and traceability of raw meat materials. This has triggered recent progress from the food industry to apply new software tools enabling the mapping of meat supply chains. Nevertheless, a meat vulnerability assessment showed that meat and derivatives are highly susceptible to many fraudulent malpractices. Therefore, more effective measures are needed to manage the risk and new analytical solutions are required to increase the deterrence of meat adulteration and rapid detection of fraud. DNA-based methods have evolved rapidly as shown with the application of the new LCD array and Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) in order to detect broad meat species adulteration. Moreover, new technologies such as NGS together with the Rapid Evaporative Ionization Mass Spectrometry (REIMS) are emerging as a really promising association of analytical approaches for rapid detection of several malpractices.

Considering the increase of the total cultivated land area dedicated to genetically modified organisms (GMO), the consumers' perception toward GMO and the need to comply with various local GMO legislations, efficient and accurate analytical methods are needed for their detection and identification. Considered as the gold standard for GMO analysis, the real-time polymerase chain reaction (RTi-PCR) technology was optimised to produce a high-throughput GMO screening method. Based on simultaneous 24 multiplex RTi-PCR running on a ready-to-use 384-well plate, this new procedure allows the detection and identification of 47 targets on seven samples in duplicate. To comply with GMO analytical quality requirements, a negative and a positive control were analysed in parallel. In addition, an internal positive control was also included in each reaction well for the detection of potential PCR inhibition. Tested on non-GM materials, on different GM events and on proficiency test samples, the method offered high specificity and sensitivity with an absolute limit of detection between 1 and 16 copies depending on the target. Easy to use, fast and cost efficient, this multiplex approach fits the purpose of GMO testing laboratories.

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Asian countries are major producers of cow and buffalo milk. For quality and authenticity purposes, a multiplex real-time PCR assay was developed to specifically and simultaneously detect DNA from these 2 bovine species. Targeting the cytochrome b gene of mitochondrial DNA, common PCR primers amplified a 105-bp fragment, and 2 fluorescent probes specific to either cow or buffalo were designed for their identification. Specificity was successfully tested on 6 other species, including sheep and goat, and sensitivity reached 1% of cow DNA in buffalo DNA and vice versa. As an evaluation, the method was tested using 119 freeze-dried Asian milk samples from regional industrial milk facilities. Although these samples did not cover the entire Asian zone, the multiplex assay indicated that approximately 20% of the samples (mainly from India) showed high levels of cross-contamination of cow milk by buffalo milk, and vice versa. Fast, sensitive, and straightforward, this method is fit-for-purpose for the authenticity control of Asian milk.