Metabolomic approach to the identification of robust markers for the detection of mechanically separated meat (MSM) in meat products
Abstract:
This study used GC-MS analysis based on methanol-water extraction, followed by methoximation and N-Methyl-N(trimethylsilyl)trifluoro-acetamide (MSTFA) derivitisation. Some of the metabolites were significantly different in different types of meat-based materials (MSM, hand-deboned, desinewed). However, the identification of unknown samples based purely on selected biomarker concentrations could not be considered reliable, especially in the case of meat mixtures where the variability between different samples outweighed the differences between types of meat materials. On the other hand, the application of a „global approach?, i.e. using all of the metabolites to create chemometric models, enabled reliable differentiation of MSM from other types of meat and its detection inmixtures even down to the 10% level.
