A lab-on-a-chip-based multiplex platform to detect potential fraud of introducing pig, dog, cat, rat and monkey meat into the food chain

Abstract

Food forgery has posed considerable risk to public health, religious rituals, personal budget and wildlife. Pig, dog, cat, rat and monkey meat are restricted in most religions, but their sporadic adulteration are rampant. Market controllers need a low-cost but reliable technique to track and trace suspected species in the food chain. Considering the need, here we documented a lab-on-a-chip-based multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay for the authentication of five non-halal meat species in foods. Using species-specific primers, 172, 163, 141, 129 and 108-bp sites of mitochondrial ND5, ATPase 6 and cytochrome b genes were amplified to detect cat, dog, pig, monkey and rat species under complex matrices. Species-specificity was authenticated against 20 different species with the potential to be used in food. The targets were stable under extreme sterilisation (121°C at 45 psi for 2.5 h) which severely degrades DNA. The assay was optimised under the backgrounds of various commercial meat products and validated for the analysis of meatballs, burgers and frankfurters, which are popular fast food items across the globe. The assay was tested to detect 0.1% suspected meats under commercial backgrounds of marketed foods. Instead of simplex PCR which detects only one species at a time, such a multiplex platform can reduce cost by at least fivefolds by detecting five different species in a single assay platform.

Graphical Abstract

Keywords:

• lab-on-a-chip-based multiplex PCR
• haram meat-species
• extreme sterilisation
• commercial food matrices

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge wildlife Malaysia and Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur (DBKL) for providing monkey, dog and cat meat samples.

Ethical compliance

The ethical permission was obtained from the University of Malaya Ethical Committee (ref. no.: NANOCAT/23/07/2013/MEA(R)) and all the animals and meats used in this study were handled following the institutional and national guideline for animal care.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by University of Malaya Research [grant number GC001A-14SBS] to M.E. Ali.