A number of cumin products were withdrawn from the market in 2015 with suspected almond adulteration, because of almond's allergenicity. Immunoassay tests were unable to provide unequivocal evidence of the Prunus species present, because of significant cross-reactivity with other species within the Prunus genus.
A novel real-time PCR assay was developed for the specific detection of Prunus mahaleb DNA, a species known to be capable of causing false positives in almond immunoassays. This paper reports the development of the assay and the preliminary results from its application.
The paper is open access and can be downloaded.
