Detection of Species in Meat and Meat Products Using Enzyme‐linked Immunosorbent Assay

Abstract

Detection of species adulteration in meat products is important for consumer protection and food labeling law enforcement. In this study, samples of 28 fermented sausages; 14 cooked salami; 11 frankfurters; 9 raw meats; 16 raw ground meats and meat balls; 3 pastramis, 2 hams and 5 bacons; 7 cooked meats; and 5 canned products resulting in a total of 100 meat and meat products were analyzed for species determination by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay test kits prepared with monoclonal antibody technique. Results showed that 11 of 28 fermented sausages (39.2%), 5 of 14 cooked salami (35.7%), 3 of 11 frankfurters (27.2%), 2 of 9 raw meat (22.2%) and 1 of 16 raw ground meat and meat ball (6.2%) samples were found to contain undeclared species. Fermented sausage, cooked salami and frankfurter samples that had been declared as beef only contained poultry meat. Raw meat samples that were declared as beef were determined as horse and deer meat. One meatball sample declared as beef was found to be poultry meat. These results indicate that 22.0% of the samples were not in compliance with Turkish Food Codex violating consumer rights and presenting a potential public health risk. A 4 Corresponding

A high incidence of species substitution and mislabelling detected in meat products sold in South Africa

“…Apart from the potential for cross contamination, an explanation for the high incidence of this undeclared species in the aforementioned products could have been due to the substitution of cheaper chicken flesh or fat for more expensive beef or mutton constituents, or alternatively due to the unacknowledged incorporation of chicken MRM (Hsieh, Johnson,Wetzstein, & Green,1996). Similar reports on the detection of undeclared poultry in ground meat products from Alabama and Turkish markets have been documented in the literature (Ayaz et al, 2006;. Surprisingly, since chicken was found to be widely used as an ingredient in deli meats and because species substitution could be easily masked in such highly comminuted products, only two samples within this category tested positive for undeclared chicken (Fig.…”

“…Thus, if cross contamination was the reason for the presence of undeclared species in deli meats, it would be expected that the latter number would be higher given the extensive inclusion of chicken in such products. In contrast to these findings, Ayaz et al (2006) found that poultry was the major undeclared species in deli meats collected from Turkey, where 5 of 13 (38%) cooked beef salami samples and 3 of 11 (27%) beef frankfurters tested positive for the presence of poultry. In addition, these authors reported on the complete substitution of poultry meat for beef in 11 of 24 (46%) fermented sausage products.…”

“…The results emerging from the studies of Hsieh,Woodward, and Ho (1995) and Ayaz et al (2006) indicated that meat species substitution occurs more regularly in processed meat commodities, for instance in ground, comminuted, cured and value-added products. One possible reason for this may lie in the fact that deliberate substitution with cheaper species is more difficult to detect in such products by visual observation than it is in fresh, intact meat.…”

“…Such findings are comparable to the reports from other studies (Hsieh et al, 1995;, in which beef and sheep were identified in turkey mince, pork mince and pork sausages. While the deliberate substitution of animal proteins with expensive beef or mutton is generally not anticipated, possible reasons for their undisclosed presence are due to cross contamination or the addition of nonconforming meat products/rework into non-identical formulations (Ayaz et al, 2006). An additional and probable reason for such occurrences could be attributed to actions of 'converting waste to profit', whereby unmarketable, lower-valued beef or sheep trimmings are incorporated into processed meat mixtures for the purposes of increasing their bulk (Hsieh et al, 1995).…”

Rapid analysis and identification of meat species by laser‐ablation electrospray mass spectrometry (LAESI‐MS)

“…The results showed that 22.0% of the samples were not in compliance with Turkish Food Codex, violating consumer rights and presenting a potential public health risk. [4] However, using an ELISA it is difficult to analyze different species in a single run, and also is quite expensive. [3] PCR methods are widely applied to identify meat species in routine laboratories.…”