A systematic review of DNA‐based methods in authentication of game and less common meat species

Abstract

Despite the numerous studies on food safety and authenticity, especially for meat and meat products, not enough studies have been conducted focusing exclusively on game species and other unusual meat animals. As a result of the European horse scandal, the horse is currently the target of many meat authenticity studies. With this review, we aim to present various DNA-based methods that have been used by researchers to identify, detect, and quantify game, uncommon meat animals, and wildlife species. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is considered the standard method for DNA analysis in meat authenticity testing. However, in this paper, we present several other methods that may or may not involve the PCR technique. For this purpose, we systematically reviewed 131 articles selected according to various criteria such as target animal species, method of analysis, year of publication, and so forth. The result of our study shows the most studied game and uncommon meat species, PCR-and non-PCR-based methods for game meat analysis, and DNA-based methods in wildlife conservation. With this study, researchers can find detailed information about frequent game species used as adulterants for regular meat products and the DNA-based techniques to identify them.

Is the metabarcoding ripe enough to be applied to the authentication of foodstuff of animal origin? A systematic review

“…The application of metabarcoding to meat products (in terms of SP number) appeared quite similar to that of seafood, but differently from the standard DNA barcoding, where seafood is instead much more investigated. In fact, even though DNA barcoding can be considered effective for meat species (especially mammalian and avian) identification, and many authors consider this method to be a game changer in meat species identification, its use in the context of meat traceability is still limited (Adenuga & Montowska, 2023; Galimberti et al., 2015). The dairy products were investigated in two SPs (8.7%), one of which also investigating meat.…”

“…In fact, even though DNA barcoding can be considered effective for meat species (especially mammalian and avian) identification, and many authors consider this method to TA B L E 2 Scientific papers (SPs) selected after bibliographic search with relative journal and investigated foodstuff. be a game changer in meat species identification, its use in the context of meat traceability is still limited (Adenuga & Montowska, 2023;Galimberti et al, 2015). The dairy products were investigated in two SPs (8.7%), one of which also investigating meat.…”

“…However, pitfalls in both of them are reported, mainly related to the degree of taxon coverage they offer and the reliability of the sequenceassociated identification (Giusti et al, 2019). A large and comprehensive database is especially essential for successful application of the NGS metabarcoding technique (Adenuga & Montowska, 2023). In this respect, improved reference databases are the best solution to reduce chances of erroneous species assignments (Galal-Khallaf et al, 2016;Giusti et al, 2019).…”

Checkmeat: A Review on the Applicability of Conventional Meat Authentication Techniques to Cultured Meat

“…In these methods, DNA sequences are extracted, purified, and quantified from meats and meat products to obtain the necessary data for validation using genomic databases. For example, the mitochondrial DNA cytochrome b gene has been used as a genetic marker for conventional meat authentication of livestock and game species through PCR methods with varying detection limits ( Adenuga and Montowska, 2023 ).…”

Recent advances in whiskey analysis for authentication, discrimination, and quality control

“…There have been many review studies on food safety and authenticity using various analytical techniques, among which include; methods used in wine authentication (Popirda et al, 2021), the use of omic techniques in the nutritional characterization and adulteration identification of dairy products (Qin et al, 2022), the use of compound-specific stable isotope analysis on foods of both plant and animal origin, essential oils and plant extracts (Liu et al, 2023), and the use of DNA-based methods for the analysis of meat and meat products (Adenuga & Montowska, 2023). Furthermore, several reviews have also evaluated the use of spectroscopic techniques in determining the geographical origin of alcoholic beverages (Urickova & Sadecka, 2015) and detecting modern whiskey fraud (Power et al, 2020).…”