Tracing lamb meat with stable isotope ratio analysis: a review

Intelligent System/Equipment for Quality Deterioration Detection of Fresh Food: Recent Advances and Application

The quality of fresh foods tends to deteriorate rapidly during harvesting, storage, and transportation. Intelligent detection equipment is designed to monitor and ensure product quality in the supply chain, measure appropriate food quality parameters in real time, and thus minimize quality degradation and potential financial losses. Through various available tracking devices, consumers can obtain actionable information about fresh food products. This paper reviews the recent progress in intelligent detection equipment for sensing the quality deterioration of fresh foods, including computer vision equipment, electronic nose, smart colorimetric films, hyperspectral imaging (HSI), near-infrared spectroscopy (NIR), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), ultrasonic non-destructive testing, and intelligent tracing equipment. These devices offer the advantages of high speed, non-destructive operation, precision, and high sensitivity.

Isotope Fingerprinting as a Backup for Modern Safety and Traceability Systems in the Animal-Derived Food Chain

In recent years, due to the globalization of food trade and certified agro-food products, the authenticity and traceability of food have received increasing attention. As a result, opportunities for fraudulent practices arise, highlighting the need to protect consumers from economic and health damages. In this regard, specific analytical techniques have been optimized and implemented to support the integrity of the food chain, such as those targeting different isotopes and their ratios. This review article explores the scientific progress of the last decade in the study of the isotopic identity card of food of animal origin, provides the reader with an overview of its application, and focuses on whether the combination of isotopes with other markers increases confidence and robustness in food authenticity testing. To this purpose, a total of 135 studies analyzing fish and seafood, meat, eggs, milk, and dairy products, and aiming to examine the relation between isotopic ratios and the geographical provenance, feeding regime, production method, and seasonality were reviewed. Current trends and major research achievements in the field were discussed and commented on in detail, pointing out advantages and drawbacks typically associated with this analytical approach and arguing future improvements and changes that need to be made to recognize it as a standard and validated method for fraud mitigation and safety control in the sector of food of animal origin.

Fatty Acid and Multi-Isotopic Analysis (C, H, N, O) as a Tool to Differentiate and Valorise the Djebel Lamb from the Mountainous Region of Tunisia

The objective of this study was to distinguish between the Tunisian Djebel lamb meat and meat from typical Tunisian production systems (PSs) through the fatty acids (FAs) profile and the stable isotope ratio analysis (SIRA). Thirty-five lambs from three different regions and PSs (D = Djebel, B = Bou-Rebiaa, and O = Ouesslatia) were considered for this purpose. The results demonstrated that the PS and the geographic origin strongly influenced the FA profile of lamb meat. It was possible to discriminate between the Djebel lamb meat and the rest of the dataset thanks to the quantification of the conjugated linoleic acids (CLA) and the branched chain FAs. Moreover, statistically different concentrations of saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated FAs and a different n-6/n-3 ratio were found for grazing (D and BR) and indoor (O) lambs, making it possible to discriminate between them. As for the stable isotope ratio analysis, all parameters made it possible to distinguish among the three groups, primarily on the basis of the dietary regimen (δ(¹³C) and δ(¹⁵N)) and breeding area (δ(¹⁸O) and δ(²H)).

Gas Chromatography Combustion Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry to Detect Differences in Four Compartments of Simmental Cows Fed on C3 and C4 Diets

Fatty acids (FAs) metabolism in animals represents an important field of study since they influence the quality and the properties of the meat. The aim of this study is to assess the possibility to discriminate the diets of cows in different animal compartments and to study the fate of dietary FAs in the bovine organism, using carbon isotopic ratios. Five FAs, both essential (linoleic and linolenic) and non-essential (palmitic, stearic, and oleic) in four compartments (feed, rumen, liver, meat) of animals fed two different diets (based on either C3 or C4 plants) were considered. For all compartments, the carbon isotopic ratio (δ13C) of all FAs (with few exceptions) resulted significantly lower in cows fed on C3 than C4 plants, figuring as a powerful tool to discriminate between different diets. Moreover, chemical reactions taking place in each animal compartment result in fraction processes affecting the δ13C values. The δ13CFAs tendentially increase from feed to meat in group C3. On the other hand, the δ13CFAs generally increase from rumen to liver in group C4, while δ13CFAs of rumen and meat are mostly not statistically different. Different trends in the δ13CFAs of the two groups suggested different FAs fates depending on the diet.