abstract
- The addition of soybean protein materials to meat products is a common practice in the food industry, being a potential hidden allergenic commodity. This study aimed at proposing a novel specific and highly sensitive real-time PCR system for the detection/quantification of soybean as an allergenic ingredient in processed meat products. The method achieved a limit of detection of 9.8 pg of soybean DNA (8.6 copies), with adequate real-time PCR performance parameters, regardless of the soybean material (concentrate or isolate) and after thermal treatments. A normalised approach was also proposed in the range of 0.001–10% (w/w) of soybean material in pork meat, which was successfully validated and applied to processed meat products. Soybean was identified in more than 40% of tested samples of cooked ham and mortadella in the range of 0.1–4% (w/w), 3 samples not complying with labelling regulations as a result of undeclared soybean
- This work was supported by FCT (Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia) through project UID/QUI/50006/2013 – POCI/01/0145/FEDER/007265 with financial support from FCT/ MEC through national funds and co-financed by FEDER, under the Partnership Agreement PT2020, and by the project NORTE- 01-0145-FEDER-000011. J. Costa is grateful to FCT grant SFRH/ BPD/102404/2014, financed by POPH-QREN (subsidised by FSE and MCTES).