Species identification of cooked meats by enzyme-staining of isoelectricfocusing gels

By extracting cooked meat products with 6 m guanidine hydrochloride and then dialysing the extract into 1 % Triton X-100, the activity of adenylate kinase (AK) and creatine kinase (CK) may be at least partly recovered, provided the meat was not heated above ≈120°C (AK) or ≈105°C (CK). A wide range of animal species may be identified in cooked meats by staining isoelectricfocusing gels for these two enzymes. However, if a sample consists of mixed flesh from different species, hybrid creatine kinase dimers form during dialysis and the additional bands complicate interpretation of gel patterns.