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Quantitative detection of meat adulteration using MRM mass spectrometry

Reference	BBS/E/F/00044505
Principal Investigator / Supervisor	Professor E K Kemsley
Co-Investigators / Co-Supervisors
Institution	Quadram Institute Bioscience
Department	Quadram Institute Bioscience Department
Funding type	Research
Value (£)	132,901
Status	Completed
Type	Institute Project
Start date	01/11/2014
End date	31/10/2015
Duration	11 months

Abstract

The horsemeat scandal of 2013 sparked a pan-European food authenticity crisis, embroiling both retailers and suppliers and resulting in the removal of millions of pounds worth of meat products from UK supermarket shelves. The crisis exposed widespread deficiencies in food testing regimes. The objective of the present proposal is to extend the ability to verify and quantitate meat species via analytical methods, specifically, by developing MRM-MS (multiple reaction monitoring mass spectrometry) in a cost-effective, high-throughput approach. Most meat species contain high levels of the protein myoglobin. The sequences for myoglobins from many different species are well-known, and typically differ by several amino acids. For example P68082 (horse) differs from P02192 (bovine) by 18 amino acids randomly throughout the molecule. Protein extracted from meat mixtures can be enzymatically digested to yield peptides; some corresponding peptides from different species’ myoglobins will differ in mass. The project aims to quantify these by passing the peptide mixes through a short-column HPLC and then into a triple-quad mass spectrometer operating in MRM mode: this means that very specific peptides and their associated fragment ions are detected, giving confident identification and accurate relative quantitation. A range of technical developments will be made to optimize the throughput with which this analysis can be made, and thus its potential uptake as a screening technology.

Summary

unavailable

Committee	Not funded via Committee
Research Topics	X – not assigned to a current Research Topic
Research Priority	X – Research Priority information not available
Research Initiative	X - not in an Initiative
Funding Scheme	X – not Funded via a specific Funding Scheme

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