Complementary Molecular and Spectroscopic Approaches for Meat Authentication: Real-Time PCR Detection of Porcine DNA and FT-NIR Analysis of Slaughter-Related Biochemical Changes
4 affiliations
- 1School of Pharmacy, Asfendiyarov Kazakh National Medical University, Tole bi 94, 050012 Almaty, Kazakhstan
- 2Faculty of Medicine, Karakalpakstan Medical Institute, Dosnazarov 108, Nukus 230105, Uzbekistan
- 3School of General Medicine, Asfendiyarov Kazakh National Medical University, Tole bi 94, 050012 Almaty, Kazakhstan
- 4Faculty of Pharmacy, JSC “South Kazakhstan Medical Academy”, Al-Farabi Square, 1, 160000 Shymkent, Kazakhstan
Abstract
Food adulteration and species mislabeling represent important challenges for food safety, regulatory control, and consumer protection, particularly for products requiring species-specific authentication. This study investigated two complementary analytical approaches relevant to meat authentication: species-specific real-time polymerase chain reaction (real-time PCR) for the molecular detection of porcine mitochondrial deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and Fourier-transform near-infrared (FT-NIR) spectroscopy combined with chemometric analysis for exploratory assessment of slaughter-related compositional changes in a controlled murine proof-of-concept model. A total of 85 commercially available Halal-labeled meat products, including sausages, cutlets, minced meat, dumplings, raw meat, and seasoning products, were analyzed for the presence of porcine mitochondrial DNA. Under the applied qualitative assay conditions, porcine mitochondrial DNA was detected in 64 of 85 analyzed samples (75.3%). This finding is specific to the investigated sample set and does not distinguish intentional formulation or substitution from unintended cross-contact or other potential sources of porcine-derived DNA. In parallel, FT-NIR spectroscopy over the 10,000–4000 cm−1 spectral range was evaluated as a rapid, non-destructive approach for assessing compositional changes associated with blood removal in a controlled murine model. Principal component analysis of standard normal variate (SNV)-preprocessed spectra demonstrated separation between blood-retained and blood-drained tissues; the first principal component (PC1) and the second principal component (PC2) accounted for 93% and 4% of the total spectral variance, respectively. The spectral regions contributing most strongly to the observed separation were associated predominantly with O–H- and N–H- related vibrational features, consistent with variation in major tissue constituents such as water and proteins. These findings illustrate the complementary information provided by species-specific molecular detection and exploratory spectroscopic profiling. Further validation in commercially relevant livestock species and independent sample sets is required before a combined analytical workflow can be established.
Related
- Characterization of Large-Scale Mitochondrial DNA Rearrangements Using Complementary Short- and Long-Read Sequencing Approaches.
- MDigest: A comprehensive toolkit for detection of allosteric communication from molecular dynamics simulations of biochemical systems
- Integrated immunoinformatics and molecular dynamics approaches reveal a promising multi-epitope vaccine against hantavirus
- Probing the binding dynamics of a sunitinib analog with human serum albumin: a combined spectroscopic and molecular docking approach
- S-HPABA, a marine fungal-derived bioactive compound, exhibits potent lipid-lowering efficacy and safety in modulating lipid dysregulation revealed by integrative lipidomics and molecular biology approaches.
BibTeX
@article{myrzakozha2026complementary,
title = {{Complementary Molecular and Spectroscopic Approaches for Meat Authentication: Real-Time PCR Detection of Porcine DNA and FT-NIR Analysis of Slaughter-Related Biochemical Changes}},
author = {Diyas Myrzakozha and Elmira Karlova and Saule Meldebekova and Tolkyn Issabekova and Nurgali Rakhymbayev and Nyshanbay Konash and Aliya Yermekkyzy},
journal = {International Journal of Molecular Sciences},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.3390/ijms27198898},
url = {https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/27/19/8898},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Complementary Molecular and Spectroscopic Approaches for Meat Authentication: Real-Time PCR Detection of Porcine DNA and FT-NIR Analysis of Slaughter-Related Biochemical Changes
AU - Diyas Myrzakozha
AU - Elmira Karlova
AU - Saule Meldebekova
AU - Tolkyn Issabekova
AU - Nurgali Rakhymbayev
AU - Nyshanbay Konash
AU - Aliya Yermekkyzy
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/07
JO - International Journal of Molecular Sciences
DO - 10.3390/ijms27198898
UR - https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/27/19/8898
AB - Food adulteration and species mislabeling represent important challenges for food safety, regulatory control, and consumer protection, particularly for products requiring species-specific authentication. This study investigated two complementary analytical approaches relevant to meat authentication: species-specific real-time polymerase chain reaction (real-time PCR) for the molecular detection of porcine mitochondrial deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and Fourier-transform near-infrared (FT-NIR) spectroscopy combined with chemometric analysis for exploratory assessment of slaughter-related compositional changes in a controlled murine proof-of-concept model. A total of 85 commercially available Halal-labeled meat products, including sausages, cutlets, minced meat, dumplings, raw meat, and seasoning products, were analyzed for the presence of porcine mitochondrial DNA. Under the applied qualitative assay conditions, porcine mitochondrial DNA was detected in 64 of 85 analyzed samples (75.3%). This finding is specific to the investigated sample set and does not distinguish intentional formulation or substitution from unintended cross-contact or other potential sources of porcine-derived DNA. In parallel, FT-NIR spectroscopy over the 10,000–4000 cm−1 spectral range was evaluated as a rapid, non-destructive approach for assessing compositional changes associated with blood removal in a controlled murine model. Principal component analysis of standard normal variate (SNV)-preprocessed spectra demonstrated separation between blood-retained and blood-drained tissues; the first principal component (PC1) and the second principal component (PC2) accounted for 93% and 4% of the total spectral variance, respectively. The spectral regions contributing most strongly to the observed separation were associated predominantly with O–H- and N–H- related vibrational features, consistent with variation in major tissue constituents such as water and proteins. These findings illustrate the complementary information provided by species-specific molecular detection and exploratory spectroscopic profiling. Further validation in commercially relevant livestock species and independent sample sets is required before a combined analytical workflow can be established.
SN - 1422-0067
ER -