DETECTION OF SPECIES SUBSTITUTION IN RAW AND COOKED MEATS USING IMMUNOASSAYS

Federal and state laws require that raw and cooked meats be accurately represented as to the species of meat they contain. A total of 806 ra w and 96 cooked meat samples collected from Florida retail markets wer e examined for regulatory control of these products. An agar-gel immun odiffusion method was used for the identification of beef, pork and ho rse species in uncured raw meats. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays w ere used to identify poultry and sheep in raw meats and all species in cured raw meats and cooked meats. A positive violative sample was rep orted only if the target extraneous species present exceeded a 1% leve l. Results indicated that the overall rate of substituted species in b oth cooked and raw meat samples was 16.6%. Percentage of violation in cooked products was higher than that in raw meats (22.9% versus 15.9%) . The undeclared species found in ground beef and veal products includ ed sheep, pork and poultry, in descending order of frequency. The majo r substituting species found in ground pork, ground turkey and ground lamb, however, was beef. Horse meat was not detected in any sample tes ted. Intact pieces of raw meat tested were all correctly labeled. The source of substitution/contamination also was investigated and discuss ed. Current retail practices in meat markets show a significant proble m with mixing of undeclared species in ground and comminuted meat prod ucts.