Goat meat has a price premium over sheep meat in many countries. They are visually very similar. The authors of this study (here – purchase required) report a novel DNA test that does not require amplification using heating cycles (PCR). This makes it suitable for field-based testing. They have applied the isothermal polymerase spiral reaction (PSR) assay to goatmeat for the first time. Their assay is targeted against the mitochondrial DNA and can be read based on a visual colour change after the addition of SYBR Green I dye to the amplified product. The possibility of cross-amplification was ruled out by testing other meat species (buffalo, cattle, chicken, pig, sheep, and ostrich). PSR could be undertaken at 62 °C for 60 min with the limit of detection of 0.5 ng DNA (approximately equivalent to 0.1% w/w of meat). The PSR was found efficient in the detection of not only raw meat but also meat heated to 121 °C for 30 min. When combined with the alkaline lysis method of DNA extraction, the goat-specific PSR takes 90 min of sample analysis time.
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