Science

DNA testing kit checks foods for forbidden meats

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Once commercialized, the kit should cost around $10 to $16
Chulalongkorn University
Once commercialized, the kit should cost around $10 to $16
Chulalongkorn University
A diagram of the type of test strip used
Chulalongkorn University

It would certainly be upsetting to discover that the beef you had just eaten also contained rat meat. Such things are possible, though, which is why scientists have developed a DNA-based meat-testing kit.

Created at Thailand's Chulalongkorn University, the technology was designed first and foremost with Muslims in mind, as they are forbidden by Islamic dietary laws from consuming pork or the flesh of carnivorous animals, among certain other types of meat. That said, people of many religions probably wouldn't be wild about eating rat or dog meat, which the university claims is surreptitiously added to beef in some countries.

That's where the new "nucleic acid lateral flow assay"-type kit comes in. Designed for use by both consumers and people working in the food industry, it incorporates nitrocellulose test strips on which a drop of a solution containing raw or cooked food is placed. Within three hours, bands on the strip will change color to indicate if traces of pig, dog, cat, rodent or monkey DNA are present.

The researchers state that by contrast, similar testing performed in a lab would take one to five business days to provide results. What's more, they're working on reducing the kit's processing time further.

A diagram of the type of test strip used
Chulalongkorn University

Presently, the system is being used by business owners, halal inspection agencies and "a few consumers with a science background." Plans do call for it to be made more widely available, however, priced at 300 to 500 baht (about US$10 to $16) – which the university claims is about one tenth the cost of lab tests.

Source: Chulalongkorn University

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3 comments
Aross
The fact that something like this is even necessary is disgusting. How far people will go to make a buck is unbelievable.
Worzel
All rats and dogs must sighing with relief!
ljaques
I can't wait to take one into a fast food restaurant in the near future!
Remember the discovery of roo meat at Jack in the Box in the '80s? Now it's actually being served in restaurants.