Rapid detection of fraudulence in seven commercial shrimp products by species-specific PCR assays

Abstract

Species-specific PCR assay was developed for the authentication of commercially important seven shrimp spe- cies. Species-specific primers were designed by targeting the mitochondrial 16S RNA and Internal Transcriber Spacer (ITS1) genes. The PCR assays generated the amplicons of 276, 204, 362, 778, 212, 318 and 330 bp length for Penaeus vannamei, Fenneopenaeus indicus, Penaeus monodon, Macrobrachium rosenbergii, Metapenaeus affinis, Heterocarpus gibbosus,and Penaeus semisulcatus, respectively. The specificity of primers was confirmed with tar- geted shrimps and non-targeted fishes. The limit of detection of shrimp species was achieved with 1–0.1 ng/μl. The developed assays were validated with 68 commercial shrimp products, and the results revealed 16% of mislabeling. Since, the developed PCR assays possess specificity, sensitivity, and applicability, it can be used as an official method for authentication in shrimp processing industries by the regulatory authorities.