A Taqman real-time PCR was developed to detect cereal-derived ingredients adulterated in dairy products.MethodsThe universal primers and probe for cereals were designed according to the homogeneous region of rbcL gene by blasting the rbcL gene of rice, maize, wheat, sorghum and barley. And the assay was evaluated by universality and sensitivity test. Meanwhile, its practicability was verified using simulated samples and market samples. Resultsimplicated that the primers-probe system could detect DNA fragments of rice, maize, wheat, sorghum and barley with no cross-reaction to banana, jujube, pineapple, strawberry, tomato, peanut, soybean, bovine, ovine which may occur in dairy products(Ct＞35). The detection limit was 0.01ng for pure wheat DNA and 0.5% for each of five cereals in dairy mixtures. 14market dairy samples were analyzed for cereal ingredients, and were all consistent with their food labels.ConclusionThe study suggested that the developed Taqman real-time PCR method was a rapid, sensitive and efficacious detection assay for cereal-derived ingredients in dairy products.