ISO 21569:2005描述了通过分析从研究样品中提取的核酸来定性检测转基因生物（GMO）及其衍生产品的程序。主要关注基于聚合酶链反应（PCR）的扩增方法。 它给出了对目标核酸序列（DNA）的特定检测和鉴定以及对扩增的DNA序列的身份确认的一般要求。 ISO 21569:2005中规定的指南、最低要求和性能标准旨在确保在不同实验室获得可比、准确和可重复的结果。 ISO 21569:2005已针对食品基质建立，但也可应用于其他基质（例如环境中的饲料和植物样品）。 附录A至D中提供了方法的具体示例。

ISO 21569:2005 describes the procedure to qualitatively detect genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and derived products by analysing the nucleic acids extracted from the sample under study. The main focus is on polymerase chain reaction (PCR) based amplification methods. It gives general requirements for the specific detection and identification of target nucleic acid sequences (DNA) and for the confirmation of the identity of the amplified DNA sequence. Guidelines, minimum requirements and performance criteria laid down in ISO 21569:2005 are intended to ensure that comparable, accurate and reproducible results are obtained in different laboratories. ISO 21569:2005 has been established for food matrices, but could also be applied to other matrices (e.g. feed and plant samples from the environment). Specific examples of methods are provided in Annexes A to D.