Considering that the authentication of food contents is one of the most important issues for the food quality\udsector, and given the increasing demand for transparency in the meat industry followed the horsemeat scandal in Europe,\udthis study investigates processed-meat products from Italian markets and supermarkets using the mitochondrial cytochrome\udb gene qualitative PCR identification system in order to verify any species substitution or mislabeling. The results revealed a high substitution rate among the meat products, highlighting a mislabeling rate of 57 %, and consequently,\udconsiderable discordance with the indications on the labels, which raises significant food-safety and consumer-protection\udconcerns.
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