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This research aimed to identify meat species source in commercially processed meats in the local Syrian markets, imported and locally processed, and to evaluate the conformity with the actual ingredients and the stated food labels by applying PCR-RFLP technique, and to detect the presence of soybean and genetically modified organisms. Twenty-five samples of six different processed meat products (luncheon, sausage, pastrami, salami, rosto, hotdog), and cooked meat samples were randomly collected in 2018 and 2021. The research was conducted in the National Commission for Biotechnology laboratories. Meat species sources of the studied samples were identified by amplifying a segment of 12SrRNA using universal primers and then the amplification products were digested by applying five restriction enzymes of type II: ApoI, AluI, HhaI, MspI & BspTI. The restriction patterns of the samples were compared with restriction patterns of reference samples served as positive controls. The presence of soybean in meat products was verified by amplifying lectin gene, soy-specific gene. It was determined whether the soybean in positive samples was genetically modified or not by targeting the regulatory sequences from transgenic organisms. And then the existence of EPSPS modified gene sequence, which is Roundup Ready Soybean- specific gene, was investigated by amplifying CaMVi35S promoter with 172bp band length. Total soluble proteins were also estimated. The results showed that seventeen samples were identical to their respective food labels in terms of meat species sources, while just eight samples were not identical to their respective food labels. Eleven samples were positive for the lectin gene and were identical to their respective food labels in terms of soybean presence, six of them had a label indicating the presence of a vegetable protein without specifying soybeans, and four samples were negative for the lectin gene and were not identical to their respective food labels. Also, ten samples contained genetically modified materials, seven samples contained genetically modified soybeans and three samples contained RR soybeans. The results demonstrated that total soluble proteins in most samples were between (1-1.3 mg/g), which means that these samples contain good amount of meat and/or vegetable proteins. While total soluble proteins in three samples were between (0.2-0.9 mg/g), which means that these samples contain minimal meat and vegetable proteins.
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Keywords: Food label, Processed meat products, Soybean, Genetically modified organisms, Protein.
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