A biosensor detects adulterations in meat products in record time
A collaboration of the Faculties of Chemistry and Biology of the Complutense University of Madrid has resulted in the development of an electrochemical biosensor capable of detecting, in just one hour, processes of adulteration of beef meat with horse meat through the detection of a specific sequence of the D-loop region of the mitochondrial DNA of this animal species without the need to extract or amplify previously the genetic material. The biosensor can recognize DNA fragment virtually unchanged in more than 4,500 mitochondrial genomes of horses sequenced and absent in the rest of the species of mammals.
"Thus, it is possible to identify selectively and without false positives of any kind of horse meat, regardless of race," says F. Javier Gallego, researcher of the Department of Genetics of the UCM.
Until now, trials and strategies to detect these meat adulterations were based on immunological, spectroscopic or molecular biology techniques.
These methods "are often not sufficiently selective to differentiate near animal species due to the possibility of cross reactions or sufficiently reliable in processed products due to the denaturation and degradation of the biomolecules (proteins and nuclear DNA) that are produced by these thermal treatments ," explains Susana Campuzano, a researcher in the Department of Analytical Chemistry at UCM and co-author of the study published in Analytical Chemistry.
"The biosensor is capable of discriminating in only one hour and with statistically significant differences between beef meat unadulterated and adulterated with only 0.5% (w/w) of horse meat (level required by European legislation)," the UCM statement read.
Fraud in meat products is one of the most serious problems that the food industry and public health are currently facing.
The horse meat scandal in 2013 was the biggest ever seen in Europe and sent shockwaves across the whole food industry and affected the European consumer behavior. And although, at the time, there was an immediate reaction of the European Commission and measures were imposed in order to avoid another situation of this kind, still, there were many other attempt frauds of some producers and traders reported in recent years.
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