Qualitative detection of species adulteration in commercial meat products using a validated ELISA method

The aim of this study was to develop and validate an ELISA method for determining the type of meat in meat and meat products and its application in the detection of species adulteration in commercial meat products from retail chains in the Republic of Croatia. The developed method showed 100% specificity towards cattle, pig, sheep and poultry proteins and no cross-reaction with non-target food type antibodies, and was able to rapidly and reliably detect a given meat species in cooked meat samples at a 2% level of contamination. The analysis of meat products collected from various retail chains and butchers in the period from 2012 to 2022 showed satisfactory agreement with the declared species in 95.7% of cases. Canned pork products contained the least amount of potentially mis-declared products. Further, 35% of sudjuk samples, contained pork in addition to declared beef, while 26.7% of chicken sausages contained undeclared pork. Given that deviations of meat products from the declaration were determined in 4.3% of the total analysed samples, the importance of systematic prevention and detection of food fraud is emphasised through the establishment of a regular and effective system of supervision and control.