SUPERCRITICAL-FLUID EXTRACTION OF MEAT LIPIDS - AN ALTERNATIVE APPROACH TO THE IDENTIFICATION OF IRRADIATED MEATS

Ionizing radiation is currently under study as an alternative method f or extending the shelf life of meats and meat products. Accordingly, m ethods are needed to determine if a meat or meat product has been expo sed to ionizing radiation. In this study, a method is described for th e isolation and analysis of volatile hydrocarbons formed in meat lipid s after exposure to ionizing radiation. The method is based on supercr itical fluid extraction of the hydrocarbons from meat lipids and subse quent identification and quantitation of individual hydrocarbons by ga s chromatography (GC) with a mass selection-detector (MSD). Supercriti cal carbon dioxide at 175 bar and 40 degrees C extracted the hydrocarb on fraction from total meat lipids within 20 min. The presence of radi olytic hydrocarbons, as determined by GC/MSD, was then correlated to t he degree of irradiation of the meat from 0 to 10 kGy. Besides being f aster, this method has the advantage of reduced solvent consumption wh en compared to current methods for determining if a meat or meat produ ct has been irradiated.