Detection of shrimp-derived components in food by real-time fluorescent PCR

Crustaceans such as shrimp and crabs and their products are important allergens in food, and allergic reactions due to the consumption of shrimp and crabs are frequently reported. However, the chemical properties of shrimp-derived allergens, except for Pen a I, are still unclear. Therefore, it is important to establish a more sensitive and specific method for detecting the composition of foods containing shrimp. In the present study, we developed a real-time fluorescent PCR to identify the specific shrimp-derived components in food. The primers and TaqMan probes for real-time fluorescent PCR were designed based on 16S rRNA genes through comparing a large number of nucleic acid sequences from different species of shrimp that have been published by the National Center for Biotechnology Information. In total, 56 kinds of samples, including different kinds of shrimp, crab, fish, shellfish, and octopus, were subjected to detection by real-time PCR. The results indicated that real-time fluorescent PCR could successfully identify the shrimp-derived components. In order to explore the effect of food processing on detection sensitivity, fish powder containing shrimp powder was treated by heating at 133°C for 30 min. The limit of detection of shrimp-derived components in fish powder was 0.05% (wt/wt).