A genomic breed assignment test for traceability of meat of Dual-Purpose Blue

Assigning meat to its breed of origin for traceability purposes is not always straightforward if the breed from which products are derived is closely related to another one. The objective of this study was to determine if a genomic breed assignment test could distinguish meat of Dual-Purpose Blue, a local endangered breed, from meat of Beef Belgian Blue, a heavily used breed in the Belgian meat industry which is related to Dual-Purpose Blue. For this purpose, a genomic breed assignment test based on a panel of 2,005 SNPs and the nearest shrunken centroids method was used to classify 32 meat samples from Dual-Purpose Blue (n = 16), Beef Belgian Blue (n = 8) and Holstein (n = 8) into their breed of origin. From this SNP panel, 167 SNPs allowed to detect meat of Dual-Purpose Blue and 173 SNPs allowed to detect meat of Beef Belgian Blue. The genomic breed assignment test correctly allocated all the meat samples to their breed of origin with a probability of one. Therefore, the use of the genomic breed assignment test in routine as one step of the certification process of Dual Purpose Blue meat seemed possible.

Automated summary

A genomic breed assignment test successfully classified meat samples of Dual-Purpose Blue and Beef Belgian Blue into their breed of origin, demonstrating the potential for routine use in certifying the breed of meat products.