PCR assays for the detection of adulteration in dairy products
Duplex specific PCR assays for the detection of adulteration with cow's milk in goat and sheep dairy products.
Background
One of the most important products that are adulterated is milk. Goat's and sheep's milk is said to be much more beneficial to humans, which unfortunately leads to it being adulterated with inferior and cheaper milk such as cow's milk. Existing methods are only partially reliable for detecting adulteration, especially if the admixture is more than 20%.
Technology Overview
The present invention relates to a highly sensitive, specific method for detecting adulteration of sheep's or goat's milk by the addition of cow's milk using a duplex real-time fluorescence TD-PCR method followed by melting analysis. This is a fast and cost-effective method that can also be applied to other types of dairy products.
Stage of Development
Today, the invention is in TRL* 4, with the next steps being:
- Application and validation to other dairy products and other PCR technologies
- Development of a product prototype with GMP materials
- Search for a manufacturer to produce three batches (pilot batches) of the product to be evaluated and validated in detail
Benefits
- Simultaneous detection of cow and sheep or goat milk
- Highly sensitive, specific and high throughput method
- No effects of heat treatment of milk
Applications
- Adulteration detection of sheep's or goat's milk.
Opportunity
National & Kapodistrian University of Athens is seeking to collaborate and/or license the technology to a company that produces food authentication tests for scale-up development and commercialization.
Patents
IP Status
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Seeking
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