NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) — Transgenomic will collaborate with its Canadian distributor Transition Technologies and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to develop PCR-based assays to detect banned animal materials in cattle feed, the company said yesterday.
The assays could be considered for feed inspection programs after they have been evaluated, Transgenomic said.
Transgenomic said that ingredients banned in cattle feed include “certain protein-based materials, such as meat and bone meal originating from mammals other than pigs and horses.”
The company said that an effective diagnostic would have to be able to detect materials from "prohibited species" such as cattle, sheep, goats, deer, and elk.
Current microscopic methods for such tests are unable to identify the species from which the materials originated, and are time-consuming and labor-intensive, Transgenomic said.