QIAcuity mericon Food Testing Kits

• Highly sensitive and specific authentication of ingredients using digital PCR
• Single, streamlined protocol for all targets
• Dedicated mericon DNA isolation kit available

QIAcuity mericon Food Testing Kits are a suite of kits for target-specific authentication of food and animal feed ingredients. The kits are also suitable for analysis of certain pharmaceutical product components of animal and plant origin. All of the kits use the same digital PCR-based protocol. The kits are part of the comprehensive QIAGEN food safety testing portfolio, which also includes dedicated sample preparation kits, as well as assays for detecting pathogen DNA. 

The kit is compatible with the QIAcuity Digital PCR System and the QIAcuity Nanoplates.
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QIAcuity mericon Food Testing Kits have already been thoroughly tested for specificity and cross-reactivity using qPCR. Now, this established technology has been brought to the QIAcuity platform to benefit from the unrivaled robustness, sensitivity and precision of digital PCR. All mericon MeatTracker Assays can detect as few as 10 copies of the target DNA in a single reaction.

You can authenticate ingredients in food testing by using digital PCR to amplify a specific region of the relevant target genome. Target-specific fluorescent probes bind to the amplified product to detect it. By detecting the target DNA, you confirm ingredient authenticity or prevent food fraud, ethical issues or health concerns.

QIAcuity mericon Food Testing Kits include an internal control to identify potential inhibition. This aids in the straightforward interpretation of the results (see the table "Summary of possible PCR outcomes").

The principle of the dPCR reaction in the nanoplates is described here.

DNA is extracted from a food or animal feed sample using a dedicated sample preparation kit. The DNeasy mericon Food Kit is suitable for a whole range of food matrices, including those with high inhibitor content.

The isolated, pure DNA is assayed using a streamlined digital PCR protocol on the QIAcuity Digital PCR System. 

QIAcuity mericon food testing assays for dPCR-based detection of DNA segments from specific animal or plant material in food, animal feed and pharmaceutical products.