Food adulteration with genetically modified soybeans and maize, meat of animal species and ractopamine residues in different food products

Abstract

Background: Governments around the world have developed a variety of strategies to address the long-standing food crisis. Food contaminated by genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and meat residues from hormonally treated animals, has recently received increased attention, posing serious health risks to consumers. The aims of this study are to detect recombinant DNA in genetically modified maize, soybeans, and fruits. Furthermore, meat adulteration by mixing meat from different animal species and ractopamine residues (RAC) in imported and local food products were detected using qualitative and quantitative methods.

Results: Sixty local and imported food samples were collected from different supermarkets, local markets, street vendors, and slum areas in Egypt. The results revealed that the recombinant DNA targeted sequences were detected in 25 samples, with the common regulatory genes (CaMV35s) found in 16 of them. The Bt-11 and RRS genes were both detected in maize and soybean samples. However, 35 were used for a screening of meat adulteration with meat from different animal species using qualitative real-time PCR and RAC residue detection using ELISA. The results revealed that 11 samples of pork were positively adulterated, and six samples of meat were positively adulterated (dog, donkey, pork, horse, sheep, chicken, and soybean). Finally, lard was detected in three positively adulterated porcine meats.

Conclusions: It is concluded that, as per the international regulations, in order to protect consumers from the harm caused by food adulteration, countries must recognize and implement highly restricted labelling systems, as well as qualitative and/or quantitative methods in routine analyses in internationally accredited laboratories.