The detection of commercial duck species in food using a single probe-multiple species-specific primer real-time PCR assay

A real-time PCR assay for the simultaneous detection of Mallard and Muscovy duck is described. Species-specific primers were designed for Mallard or Muscovy duck using the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene sequence. These primer sets were multiplexed with a single duck probe to produce a simple, rapid and robust real-time PCR assay. This assay was shown to be specific for duck compared to a wide range of commercially important meat species and was used for the successful detection of duck meat in complex food matrices. This is the first report of an assay that will detect all species of commercially available duck in commercial products using real-time PCR.