Abstract：Objective: To establish a real-time PCR method for quantitative detection of lamb in frozen lamb rolls. Methods:
The ovine mitochondrial cytochrome b gene (Cyt b) as species-specific primer and the mitochondrial 12S rRNA as
endogenous control were selected to conduct relative quantification through ΔCt vs. lamb content (%). The results obtained
were compared with those from the weighing method. Some factors that may affect the quantitative results including the
number of gene copies and fat content in lamb were also analyzed. Results: A high correlation coefficient (R2 = 0.990 1) was
showed between ΔCt and lamb content in the range of 1%–100%. The correlation between the results of real-time PCR and
weighting method for seven marketed samples of frozen lamb rolls was statistically significant (R2 = 0.945, P < 0.001), and
the average absolute difference was −11.0% (with a 95% confidence interval of −7.4% to −14.6%). The effects of the number
of gene copies and fat content in lamb on the quantitative detection were not statistically significant (P = 0.072, and P = 0.206,
respectively). Conclusion: The real-time PCR method can be used as a quick and practical method in quantitative detection
of lamb in frozen lamb rolls.
