Molecular assay of chicken meat fraud in premium burgers by Simplex and Duplex PCR

Meat is considered as an excellent and nutritious source of protein. However, due to the high cost of this animal protein and economic profit access of some producers, frauds like usage meat species of commercially lower value are noticeable. In this study is tried to identifiy low cost protein such as chicken meat that is not commonly used in meat products, but there is the possibility of this fraud by molecular method. DNA was extracted from 10 kind of industrial premium burgers with beef´s title mention, and control samples involve raw beef and chicken meat. Then, simplex-PCR and duplex-PCR were run on the extracted DNA using specific primer´s of cytochrome b gene in beef and 12s rRNA gene in chicken. Specific genes of beef cytochrome b and chicken 12s rRNA amplified 274bp and 183bp fragments respectively in all premium burger samples in simplex-PCR and duplex-PCR. Amplification of fragments of 183 bp by simplex and duplex-PCR suggests adulteration of premium hamburgers by partial replacement of beef with chicken.