MEATiCode: A comprehensive proteomic LC-MS/MS method for simultaneous species identification in meat authentication

Food fraud in the meat industry threatens consumer trust, market stability, and public health. Traditional methods like DNA barcoding are limited, especially for processed foods where DNA is often degraded. This paper introduces the workflow MEATiCode, a comprehensive proteomic liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method for the simultaneous identification of species in meat authentication. Application of a novel database search approach - MEATiCode - enabled the differentiation of meat species (as demonstrated for beef, pork, chicken and lamb) in raw and cooked food products following a simple sample preparation procedure and LC-MS/MS analysis of extracted meat peptides. The efficacy of the MEATiCode method was demonstrated through its application to a range of meat products, achieving high sensitivity (0.5 % Limit of Detection (LoD)) and reliability in the detection of adulteration, even in highly processed or cooked meats.