Torque teno virus was misidentified in meat products from Romania by different methods of detection

Objectives: Torque teno viruses (TTVs) are newly discovered infectious agents, highly prevalent in healthy individuals world-wide, as well as in farm and wild animals. The purpose of this study was detection of human TTVs in meat products. Methods and Results: One hundred sixty meat products were purchased from retailers or Romanian producers, and DNA was extracted. Real-time PCR was used for detection of beef, pork, chicken and turkey DNA. Human TTVs were identified by PCR using sets of primers spanning the translated and untranslated regions in the viral genome. The specificity of the amplicons was checked by sequencing. No specific amplicons were obtained using primers targeting coding regions. Employing primers targeting 5'UTR, TTV and TTMV were detected in a high number of samples; however, the viral origin was not confirmed by sequencing. The sequences obtained were similar to regions from pig, chicken, turkey and bacterial genomes. The primers used in our study may not specifically detect TTVs when food-purified DNA is used as template. Conclusions: Further investigations are needed to determine whether TTVs could be reliable viral markers for foods quality assessment.