Detection of Porcine Based Materials in Processed Food Using Polymerase Chain Reaction Method

Abstract

The detection of halal adulteration in processed food, particularly the presence of porcine based material, be it human or animal food is very important to safeguard the interest of Muslim consumers. Many techniques have been developed to determine such adulteration which can ascertain the halal status of food products. In this paper, the presence of porcine based materials in few processed foods namely meat products, candy products, and animal feeds obtained from Kota Samarahan, Sarawak, Malaysia were screened by using Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) method. Findings revealed that all processed meat samples showed a positive result of the presence of porcine DNA. A similar result was also obtained for a few samples of animal feeds and candy products. As such, further study is required to verify the results.