Prof. Ellen Billett has posted the results of two small 'snapshot' studies in 2014 and 2019 on undeclared offal in mincemeat and burgers/kebabs etc. under the General Discussion tab on the website. These studies arose from the methods developed to detect lung, heart, kidney and liver in meat products under the Food Authenticity Programme, and one of which is reported in the Methods (SOPs - FA0122) section of the website.
immunoassay (2)
The potential adulteration of kid or lamb rennet with calf rennet is of interest for some PDO (Protected Designation of Origin) cheeses producers and those looking for a specific cheese authenticity. The researchers developed an immunoassay (indirect ELISA), and used a monoclonal antibody (mAb) raised against bovine pepsin. This mAb was found to be specific neither cross-reacting with the pepsin of other animal species (kid, lamb, pig) nor with other milk-clotting enzymes (chymosin and microbial enzymes). Using prepared test samples of kid and lamb rennets spiked with a wide range of calf rennet (from 0 to 100% v/v), the presence of bovine pepsin was detected at low levels down to 6 mg/L in kid and lamb rennets, with a good linear relationship in the range 1.25–120 mg/L.
Read the abstract at: ELISA for bovine rennet adulteration
