Advances in authenticity testing for meat speciation

Abstract

Meat species identification represents a key issue in food authentication because it allows verification of labeling compliance, promotion of fair trade, and enables informed consumer choice. Species determination has gained much interest in the case of highly processed and high-value meat products, such as game, which are particularly prone to fraudulent practices. This has driven the development of a wide range of analytical methods, targeting both protein and DNA species-specific markers, or untargeted approaches based on spectroscopy. In this chapter, a comprehensive overview on the reported analytical approaches for species identification in meat products is presented. It describes and discusses the extensive list of analytical methods, emphasizing their scope of application, sensitivity, and potential for quantification.