Consuming pork or carnivorous animals is forbidden by Islamic dietary law, among certain other types of meat. Food containing these meats is a significant concern for Muslims worldwide.
Surveys show that Thailand is one area where pork is sometimes found mixed into beef, while kangaroo meat, dog meat, and rat meat are found in Australia, Malaysia, Vietnam, China, and Indonesia, respectively. In addition to violating the Islamic religious law, such meat contamination also poses serious health risks to consumers, regardless of their religion.
With these concerns in mind, scientists at Chula Halal Science Center of Thailand’s Chulalongkorn University have developed a DNA-based meat-testing kit that consumers and food manufacturers can perform by themselves.
The new “nucleic acid lateral flow assay”-type kit incorporates nitrocellulose test strips on which a drop of a solution containing cooked or raw food is placed. Within only three hours, lines on the strip will change color to show if traces of rodent, dog, cat, monkey, or pig DNA are present.
Anat Denyingyote from Chula Halal Science Center said:
This innovation certainly addresses the concerns that Muslim consumers and the general public have.
The Strip Test detects targeted DNAs, so it can yield a 100%-accurate result within 3 hours, which is much faster than sending the samples to the lab that normally takes 1-5 business days.
Moreover, it is also easy to use, cheap and convenient.
The team is also working on reducing the kit’s processing time and making it more widely available. A limited group of users currently have access to the test strips, including business owners, halal inspection agencies, and some “consumers with a science background.”
When the Strip Test kits do become more widely available, they will cost 300-500 baht (roughly US$10 to $16), which is ten times cheaper than a forensic lab test.
