Quantitative PCR detection of pork in raw and heated ground beef and pâté

Quantitative estimates are important to establish whether pork adulteration in ground beef and pâté is accidental or intentional. A PCR procedure has been developed and evaluated to quantify pork in heated and nonheated meat and pâtés by densitometry using a specific and sensitive repetitive DNA element. Thirty, twenty-five, and twenty PCR cycles were carried out to find the best standard curve and correlation between pork content and band intensity. Twenty cycles showed the best results, quantifying degree contamination up to 1% pork in beef (heated and nonheated) and pork in duck pâté with a minimum error. Finally, fraud was found in commercial pâtés.