Prediction of adulteration of game meat using FTIR and chemometrics

Abstract

Purpose Consumption of game meat is growing when compared to other meats. It is susceptible to adulteration because of its cost and availability. Spectroscopy may lead to rapid methodologies for detecting adulteration. The purpose of this study is to detect the adulteration of wild fallow deer (Dama dama) meat with domestic goat (G) (Capra aegagrus hircus) meat, for samples stored for different periods of time using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy coupled with chemometric. Design/methodology/approach Meat was cut and mixed in different percentages, transformed into mini-burgers and stored at 3°C from 12 to 432 h and periodically examined for FTIR, pH and microbial analysis. Principal component analysis (PCA) and partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) were applied to detect adulteration. Findings The PCA model, applied to the spectral region from 1,138 to 1,180, 1,314 to 1,477, 1,535 to 1,556 and from 1,728 to 1,759 cm−1, describes the adulteration using four principal components which explained 95 per cent of variance. For the levels of Adulteration A1 (pure meat), A2 (25 and 50 %w/wG) and A3 (75 and 100 %w/wG) for an external set of samples, the correlation coefficients for prediction were 0.979, 0.941 and 0.971, and the room mean square error were 8.58, 12.46 and 9.47 per cent, respectively. Originality/value The PLS-DA model predicted the adulteration for an external set of samples with high accuracy. The proposed method has the advantage of allowing rapid results, despite the storage time of the adulterated meat. It was shown that FTIR combined with chemometrics can be used to establish a methodology for the identification of adulteration of game meat, not only for fresh meat but also for meat stored for different periods of time.