Detection of genetically modified organisms in processed meat products on the Serbian food market

Abstract

The addition of soybean proteins to processed meat products has significantly increased in recent years due to the interesting functional and nutritional properties of these vegetable proteins. Since the Roundup Ready (RR) soybean is the only transgenic soybean line approved for market in EU this work was aimed at monitoring its presence in meat products on the Serbian food market. The extracted DNA was analyzed using duplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with primer pairs aimed at the lectin gene and 35S promoter. Samples positive for the presence of GM soybean were subjected to a real-time quantification of the percentage of RR soya. The results indicated that out of fifty processed meat products examined, twelve gave positive results with 35S promoter and all contained RR soya below 0.1%.