Spectroscopic Analysis of Meat: Detection of Species and Adulteration

Introduction: In the food industry from the production to consumption, food safety and food quality are important parameters for human health and quality life. Meat is one of the most consumed food product with its high nutritional value. However, availability of meat products is limited due to its high prices. Therefore, meat adulteration is wide spread in meat industry. For this reason, producers have an attention on rapid and reliable, eco-friendly technologies to follow the food processes.

Purpose: In this study potential of Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) and Raman Spectroscopy on determination of meat species and detection of meat adulteration was exhibited.

Methods: In this study chicken, pork and beef meats were discriminated by LIBS and chemometric methods according to mineral component differences. In another application, extracted fat samples that were obtained from cattle, sheep, pig, fish, poultry, goat and buffalo and their salami products were examized by using Raman spectroscopy.

Results: The obtained LIBS spectra of pork, beef and chicken samples were qualitatively discriminated with principal component analysis (PCA) method with 83.37% ratio. Pork-beef and chicken-beef meat mixtures were also analysed with partial least square (PLS) method quantitatively. Determination coefficient (R²) and limit of detection (LOD) values were 0.994 and 4.4% for pork adulterated beef, and 0.999 and 2.0% for chicken adulterated beef, respectively. The collected Raman data were analyzed with a four-stage PCA method. Seven meat species and their salami products were successfully differentiated from each other according to their origin. According to the results the potential of both LIBS and Raman systems for routine analysis of meat samples’ quality is high compared to other methods because these methods are rapid, in situ and accurate.

Significance: The most applied meat adulteration is addition of cheaper meat species to costlier meat species. Consumers must be protected from these adulterations because of economical loses, health implications and religious beliefs.