Meat mixture detection in Iberian pork sausages

Area of Science:

• Food Science
• Analytical Chemistry
• Spectroscopy

Background:

• Meat product authentication is crucial for quality control and consumer safety.
• Differentiating pork meat origins (Iberian vs. Standard) requires precise analytical methods.
• Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS) is a rapid, non-destructive technique for chemical analysis.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the efficacy of NIRS in classifying homogenized meat mixtures of Iberian and Standard pork.
• To compare NIRS performance in analyzing fresh pork products versus dry-cured sausages.
• To develop and validate discriminant and mixture prediction models using spectral data.

Main Methods:

• Preparation of five homogenized meat mixtures using Iberian (I) and Standard (S) pork.
• Analysis of fresh products (N=75) and dry-cured sausages (N=75) using DA 7000 NIRS equipment.
• Application of discriminant analysis and mixture prediction equations based on spectral data.

Main Results:

• Discriminant models achieved high calibration accuracy (98.3% fresh, 91.7% dry-cured) and good validation accuracy (60% fresh, 80% dry-cured).
• Mixture prediction models demonstrated strong calibration (r²=0.98 fresh, r²=0.99 dry-cured) and effective validation (73.3% fresh, 93.3% dry-cured).
• NIRS successfully differentiated pork meat types across different processing stages.

Conclusions:

• NIRS is a viable and accurate tool for analyzing and classifying pork meat mixtures.
• The technique shows promise for quality control in both fresh and processed meat products.
• Spectral analysis provides valuable insights into the composition and origin of meat products.