The addition of cheaper offal (brain, large intestine, liver, heart and kidney) is difficult to discern in minced beef, although there are ELISA methods for some offal tissues detailed on this website. This research paper details the first use of rapid evaporative ionisation mass spectrometry (REIMS) to eliminate sample preparation and provide near-instantaneous results of the presence of offal in minced beef. REIMS was applied with chemometric analysis to give unique or significant markers of beef brain, heart, kidney, large intestine and liver tissues permitting detection and identification in beef mince. The adulteration levels detected with the REIMS technology when analysing raw adulterated beef burgers were; brain (5%); heart (1–10%); kidney (1–5%); large intestine (1–10%) and liver (5–10%). For boiled adulterated samples; brain (5–10%); heart (1–10%); kidney (1–5%); large intestine (1–10%) and liver (5–10%).
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