Sensitive and semi-quantitative TaqMan™ real-time polymerase chain reaction systems for the detection of beef (Bos taurus) and the detection of the family Mammalia in food and feed

Consumers distrust beef or products that could contain beef because of the BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) and vCJD (variant Creutzfeld Jacob Disease) cases during recent years. Cows could be fed with meat and bone meal-containing food. To regain consumer confidence methods are needed that allow the detection of smallest amounts of beef in the most different kind of products. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis can be used to detect the smallest amounts of even highly degraded DNA. In this work two methods are presented that allow the detection of mammal DNA and beef DNA, respectively, even in highly degraded DNA. The amplification of fragments as short as 66 and 76 bp, respectively, allow a determination of mammal or beef DNA even in meat and bone meal products.