Chemical, Molecular, and Histological Techniques for Detection of Adulteration in some Egyptian Meat Products

Abstract

This study aimed to detect the adulteration of some beef products (burger, sausage, luncheon) using chemical, molecular and histological techniques. We used a total of 63 beef product samples (21 from each product) collected from Egyptian markets. Based on costs, these samples were categorized into class A (high price), class B (medium price), and class C (low price). Adulteration was detected using the chemical composition to estimate protein%, the high-resolution melting (HRM) approach of the real-time PCR (HRM-PCR) to detect species substitution, and the histological examination to detect the adulterated tissue. The chemical analysis showed significantly higher measured protein % in class A beef products than in Class B and C. Molecular detection of mitochondrial 16S rRNA using HRM-PCR revealed the presence of meat adulteration in class B and C by mixing beef meat with either meat of other animals (donkey, dog, and cat) which normally are not consumed or slaughtered in Egypt or meat of other closely related animal species such as sheep and goat. On the histological level, adulteration was also found as noticed by the presence of a large number of tissues other than meat including bone, cartilage, fat, connective tissue, and large blood vessels, especially in class B and C products. With these data, we could conclude that medium and low-price meat products had a high incidence of adulteration. We argue that this strategy for the detection of meat adulteration might be used to safeguard consumers against food fraud in developing countries like Egypt.