A comparison of DNA-hybridization, immunodiffusion, countercurrent immunoelectrophoresis and isoelectric focusing for detecting the admixture of pork to beef.

Using DNA-hybridization at least 0·5% raw pork admixtured to beef could be detected using total genomic pig DNA as well as a cloned pig-specific DNA fragment as a DNA probe. Although signal intensity increased with increasing amounts of pig-DNA, a precise quantitation of pork in samples was not possible. Compared to this the sensitivity for detecting raw pork in beef found by Countercurrent Immunoelectrophoresis was 0·4%; by Immunodiffusion, 1·1%, and by Isoelectric Focusing, 5·0%.