CRISPR-Cas system meets DNA barcoding: Development of a universal nucleic acid test for food authentication

Food authenticity is a critical issue owing economic or ethnic considerations. Herein, we introduce CRISPR-Cas system to food authentication via detecting DNA barcodes of livestock and poultry in both unprocessed and processed food samples, allowing for a specific molecular traceability of meat species. We integrated the specific sequence recognition of CRISPR/Cas12 system and the efficient amplification of PCR method to identify DNA barcodes to improve the accuracy of pork component identification. This method, termed CRISPR-Cas-based PCR DNA barcoding method (CAPCOD), can detect pork contamination diluted into 0.1% (w/w) in raw meat mixture, which ranks one of the most sensitive assays for food authenticity. And it has been applied to identify pork contents in complex processed halal food including beef luncheon meat, spiced beef and non-halal food including sausage, dried pork slices, pork balls and ham sausage. CRISPR-Cas-based DNA barcoding method is promising to serve as sensitive and reliable analytical tools for food authenticity.