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The inclusion of offal, which usually has a lower value than meat, in any meat product in the EU and UK must be declared on the label. This literature review investigated appropriate methods to determine the adulteration of meat with offal, especially those technologies suitable for future validation to underpin a high throughput, low-cost method suitable for application by enforcement laboratories. The technologies, which determine elemental composition and peptide markers, were particularly highlighted as demonstrating potential for future development.

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This paper reports the performance of a commercial NGS method that has been evaluated as an untargeted tool to identify meat species. The method was tested on pure meat samples, and all species were correctly identified including several exotic species. Closely related meat species were also correctly differentiated. Species were successfully detected and identified in mixtures down to 1% (w/w). The reliability of the method was further confirmed on several proficiency test samples, and promising quantification data were obtained. Finally, 45 minced meat samples sourced from local European and Asian markets were analysed, and 18% of them showed cases of adulteration with undeclared meat species.

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