A molecular forensic method for identifying species composition of processed marine mammal meats

Abstract

We used universal primers designed for the cytochrome oxidase I (CO I) sequence of the order Cetacea and the family Phocidae to prove that meat fritters sold in Taiwan contained meat from two seal, six cetacean, and one pig species. The sequence information for CO I obtained in this study was limited and population genetics data for the eight sampled marine mammalian species was insufficient to deduce where these marine mammals were hunted. Regardless of the geographic origins of the marine mammal flesh, sale and consumption of marine mammals in Taiwan violates the Wildlife Conservation Act. This study provides PCR primers that could enable government testing of suspect meats to curtail the illegal trade in marine mammal products.

Keywords: Cetacea; Cytochrome oxidase I; Illegal trade; Meat; Phocidae; Wildlife Conservation Act.