Cottenet Geoffrey, Blancpain Carine, Holzwarth James
Institute of Food Safety & Analytical Sciences, Nestlé Research, Vers-chez-les-Blanc, Lausanne, Switzerland.
Heliyon. 2024 Feb 11;10(4):e25985. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e25985. eCollection 2024 Feb 29.
Herbs and spices are food categories known to be at high risk of adulteration. Presence of undeclared foreign plant species has often been reported in oregano and may have a direct impact on its organoleptic quality and potentially the safety of this aromatic herb. A droplet digital PCR approach was developed to assess the purity of oregano by quantifying the DNA copies of oregano versus the total plant DNA copies. Nuclear single-copy genes were selected by targeting the gene from oregano and the plant gene. The reactions were specific to the Origanum genus and plant materials respectively, whereas trueness and precision data confirmed the reliability of the method to quantify oregano. The applicability of the method was further verified on proficiency test samples before being applied on commercial oregano samples.
草药和香料是已知极易掺假的食品类别。牛至中经常被报道含有未申报的外来植物物种,这可能会直接影响其感官品质,并可能影响这种香草的安全性。开发了一种液滴数字PCR方法,通过量化牛至的DNA拷贝数与植物总DNA拷贝数来评估牛至的纯度。通过靶向牛至的基因和植物基因来选择核单拷贝基因。这些反应分别对牛至属和植物材料具有特异性,而准确性和精密度数据证实了该方法量化牛至的可靠性。在将该方法应用于商业牛至样品之前,先在能力验证样品上进一步验证了该方法的适用性。