The species identification of bovine, porcine, ovine and chicken components in animal meals, feeds and their ingredients, based on COX I analysis and ribosomal DNA sequences

The objective of the study was to develop a universal method for the species identification of bovine, porcine, ovine and chicken components using PCR. The proposed primers generate short amplicons of 90, 85, 67 and 66 bp for cattle, pigs, sheep and chickens respectively within the gene encoding COX1 in the case of ovine and porcine tissues, 12SrRNA for cattle, and 16SrRNA for chickens. The proposed primers only amplify the DNA of the species for which they were designed, and do not cross-react with the DNA of other species of animals and plants, the tissues of which could be the ingredients of feed mixtures or products used for food production. The use of short amplification products for the indicators allows for the highly effective species identification of animal components, both in raw samples and in samples processed at high temperature and pressure. The method developed is effective for a broad range of animal products such as lard, animal meals, pet foods, plasma, whey, milk substitute, and others. The PCR products obtained are species specific for both components in amounts of 0.1% and for 100% animal samples. Limit of quantification (LOD) for the meal contained in plant feeds and in animal feeds from other species is 0.08% for poultry meal and 0.09% for bovine, porcine and ovine meal. The specificity and high sensitivity of the indicators, as well as the universality and usefulness of the method regardless of the degree of processing, type and form of the source material are its greatest advantages.