Abstract
In Bali, Indonesia most reported dog meat trade (DMT) outlets have been closed, this means in order to ensure outlets remain closed and new ones do not open monitoring will be important. Monitoring efforts could be assisted by rapid molecular testing in the field that answers whether a sample of meat is dog meat. Bali is an ideal place for pilot testing a DMT molecular test as it is a more controlled site ideal for validation. Therefore, this study aimed to create a rapid molecular test for use in the field that targets dog DNA from meat samples of unknown species. To achieve this, rapid extraction methods, cooking treatments and PCR primers were tested using qPCR to determine their efficiency. The Dipstick kit was deemed the most suitable for DNA recovery in the field. It was also determined that DNA could successfully be extracted and amplified in boiled, medium and charred samples. The use of cytochrome b primers was also verified as they were the most efficient. Therefore, recommendations for a rapid molecular test were made that utilises the 30-second Dipstick kit for DNA extraction, uses cytochrome b primers and was verified to work on cooked samples. This test has the potential to be applied outside of Bali to the DMT in places like South Korea, where bans are soon to be in place.