Authentication of Edible Bird's nests by TaqMan-based real-time PCR

• TaqMan-based real-time PCR methods were developed to authenticate Edible Bird's nest.
• The methods could detect EBN and four major adulterants specifically and sensitively.
• Test of commercial EBNs indicated some adulterated products and various adulterants.
• The method can be applied to supervise EBN market.

Edible Bird's nests (EBN) have been adulterated with less expensive materials, including white fungus, agar–agar, fried pigskin, egg white and red seaweed, for several years. To protect consumers and regulate the EBN market, it is necessary to establish a robust method for detecting these adulterants in EBN. Herein, we established a TaqMan-based real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay to specifically detect EBN component and four common adulterants: white fungus, agar, pigskin and egg white. Therefore, five sets of primers and probes were designed for these five components. The assays were specific and reproducible, and the relative detection limits were 0.5% EBN in white fungus, 0.001% white fungus in EBN, 0.5% agar in EBN, 0.001% fried pigskin in EBN and 1% egg white in EBN. These detection levels are capable of effectively detecting the adulterants in commercial samples.