Origin Determination and Differentiation of Gelatin Species of Bovine, Porcine, and Piscine through Analytical Methods

Abstract

Gelatin origin determination has been a crucial issue with respect to religion and health concerns. It is necessary to analyze the origin of gelatin with reliable methods to ensure not only consumer choices but also safety and legal requirements such as labeling. There are many analytical methods developed for detection and/or quantification of gelatin from different sources including bovine, porcine and piscine. These analytical methods can be divided into physicochemical, chromatographic, immunochemical, spectroscopic and molecular methods. Moreover, computational methods have been used in some cases consecutively to ensure sensitivity of the analytical methods. Every method has different advantages and limitations due to their own principles, applied food matrix and process conditions of material. The present review intends to give insight into novel analytical methods and perspectives that have been developed to differentiate porcine, bovine and piscine gelatins and to establish their authenticity. Almost every method can be succeeded in origin determination; however, it is a matter of sensitivity in that some researches fail to ensure sufficient differentiation. IntroductionGelatin is a water soluble protein obtained by hydrolysis of collagen to several high molecular weight polypeptides. While the main component of the gelatin is protein (85-92%), it also contains mineral salts and moisture (Baziwane and He, 2003;Schrieber and Gareis, 2007). Gelatin has a great importance in pharmaceutical, cosmetic and especially food industry with its well-known functional properties such as gel formation in jellies, foam formation and stabilization in ice cream, emulsion stabilization in meat products, syneresis stabilization in yogurt (Nhari et al., 2012). Gelatin was produced approximately 326.000 metric tons in 2008 worldwide, and it is estimated to be consumed 395.840 metric tons by the year of 2017 according to Global Industry Analysts, Inc. which is one of the largest and reputed market research companies (Anonymous, 2016).The raw materials used in gelatin production are mainly from bovine and porcine sources: 80% from pig skin, 15% from cattle hide split, the remaining 5 % from bones, fish and other sources (GME, 2016). Gelatin origin determination has been a matter of paramount importance for Muslims, Hindus, Jews, vegetarians and vegans, in that, in Islam and Judaism, porcine derivatives are prohibited to consume, whereas in Hinduism, cow can neither be slaughtered nor consumed. Vegetarians and vegans prefer to eat animal-free foods (Boran et al., 2010;Nhari et al., 2012). Moreover, bovine gelatin has been restricted for human consumption due to Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) outbreak in 1986 in England and other countries (Venien and Levieux, 2005). Therefore, it is necessary to analyze the origin of gelatin with a reliable method. As far as it is concerned; physiochemical, chromatographic, immunochemical, spectroscopic and molecular methods have been developed to determine and differentiate gelatin o...

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Identification of peptide biomarkers for halal gelatin using bioinformatics techniques

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