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Jan 7, 2016 | Blogs, Food / Beverage | 0 comments
The meat trade hasn’t had a good reputation since the horsemeat scandal that burst into headlines in 2013. The scandal has left such a mark that meat speciation, adulteration and authenticity are still high-profile topics today. Think about it from a consumer’s perspective. Why would you spend more money on specialty beef when it could be…beaver, or even horsemeat?
A study in 2015 from a top-ranked western University tested ground and game meat samples from the United States. What they discovered might surprise you. Some were mislabeled, while others contained additional types of meat species like the ones I mentioned previously. Recently, the researchers at the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) found 14% of sausages in selected grocery stores across the country were mislabeled and cross-species contaminated. While that’s a decrease from the year before, the problem remains.
Despite the shock value of these findings, they give me an opportunity to talk about mass spectrometry as the testing method of choice when it comes to detecting meat species. In the Chapman University study, for example, samples were collected and tested using a combination of DNA barcoding and real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). My problem with this method is that DNA can be easily disrupted or removed during standard meat processing and food manufacturing. As a result, horse tissue and other contaminants remain undetected in food samples—despite the strong presence of the contaminating proteins.
Trustworthy meat producers desire reliable testing methods. Therefore, if your lab is new to food fraud analysis or is interested in improvements, I am here to say that mass spectrometry is not only easier to use than you think—it’s much more precise. I have talked to people in labs where they believe they do not have the expertise to develop and run methods.
While that might be true, SCIEX has developed assays for the simultaneous detection of horse meat at low levels in beef. The LC-MS/MS approach has the advantage of being a potential multi-species screen—unlike ELISA which requires different kits to detect individual meat species. Our team has taken things a step further and has developed a verified method to help you identify the range of animal species in raw or cooked products across a variety of food and feed matrices.
In a nutshell, the key advantages of this solution are that it is:
About the author, Ashley SageAshley Sage is the Senior Manager for Global Portfolio and Technology Strategic Marketing at SCIEX. He is responsible for looking after the strategic marketing campaigns for the product and technology portfolio. Most recently, Ashley was involved in the Generation Quant video creation and campaign. In his free time, Ashley enjoys golfing and spending time with his family.
Finding the right information shouldn’t slow you down. Whether you’re troubleshooting your mass spec, learning something new, or optimizing performance, access to the right resources at the right moment makes all the difference.
As an analytical strategy, middle-down mass spectrometry (MS) workflows characterize biotherapeutic proteins by analyzing large, digested protein fragments or defined subunits, rather than fully intact proteins (top-down) or digested peptides (bottom-up). A middle-down strategy combines the strengths of top-down and bottom-up approaches by delivering high sequence coverage and structural specificity while maintaining relatively simple sample preparation. In practice, middle-down analysis enables accurate mass measurement, rapid sequence confirmation, and localization of key post-translational modifications (PTMs) on protein subunits that are directly relevant to product quality.
In biopharmaceutical development, sequence variants (SV) are considered an inherent risk of producing complex proteins in living systems. Sequence variants are unintended changes to the amino acid sequence of a biotherapeutic and can be caused by errors in transcription or translation in the host cell, or cell culture and process conditions. Detailed analysis of SVs is important in process and product development to ensure the drug’s safety and efficacy. Even low‑level sequence variants can have significant implications for product quality, safety, and efficacy, making their accurate detection and characterization a critical requirement across development, process optimization, and regulatory submission.
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