Microscopy and calcium analysis have proven to be inadequate for the detection of mechanically separated Accessories - Other - Miscellaneous meat (MSM) in meat-containing foods.Therefore, a pseudo-MRM-LC-MS/MS-based bottom-up assay was developed and validated for the detection of porcine MSM.In contrast to a comparable study on MSM from poultry, the studies on porcine MSM showed that the use of cartilage/intervertebral disc material was not useful.
Here, we report a new marker protein from porcine MSM, protegrin-4, which allows the detection of 5/3/1 mm MSM.The validity of the developed assay was ensured by the investigation of 182 blinded samples.After unblinding, all samples containing 5/3/1 mm MSM and all negative control samples were correctly classified (precision 100%).
Furthermore, new results related to the investigation of the species specification of chicken, turkey, and pork are presented.In conclusion, LC-MS/MS-based detection of potentially undeclared use of kitchen knife set MSM has been successfully extended from poultry to porcine MSM.Moreover, the assay was successfully transferred to a tripleQuad LC-MS system.