This application note describes an accelerated solvent extraction method for determining the amount of fat in meat samples. The method provides a rapid means of extracting fat from all of the types of meat investigated. Fresh or processed meat, as well as high- and low-fat meat products can be extracted with accelerated solvent extraction very easily. The details of the accelerated solvent meat extraction method and how it compares with the traditional Soxhlet method are presented in this application note.

Veterinary drugs containing antimicrobial agents are often administered to livestock to treat or prevent disease and, at low levels, to promote growth in food-producing animals. Government agencies have discovered that some companies are abusing the use of these drugs, by administering them at higher than recommended levels to promote faster growth. This practice results in unwanted drug residues in meat and meat products eaten by humans. Sulfonamides are one class of antimicrobial agent used for that purpose. This AN shows that ASE can extract sulfonamides from meat and baby food with meat.

We present a summary of a sensitive and robust HRAM LC-MS method using a Thermo Scientific Q Exactive mass spectrometer for the identification and detection of marker proteins in raw meat samples. Four proteotypic peptides were used to perform accurate meat speciation and authenticity. Myoglobin tryptic peptides from each species were detected with an observed m/z below 1.3 ppm. This targeted method allowed for the detection of undesired meat species down to 1% (w/w) of the entire sample.

Ractopamine is a phenethanolamine member of the family of b2-adrenergic receptor agonists (b-agonists). It has been widely used as a veterinary additive drug in livestock production to promote leanness in meat, accelerate average daily weight gain and improve feed efficiency. Recently, there have been growing concerns about the safety of meat containing ractopamine residues due to its potential health risks for humans. We describe a rapid and sensitive automated online sample preparation LC-MS/MS method to determine ractopamine in beef.

Phenylbutazone (bute, PBT) is one of the most widely used (non-steroidal) anti-inflammatory (NSAiD) and painkiller drug for dogs and horses. Horse meat is still widely used for human consumption in some European countries. For those animals marked for human consumption, a limited number of medicines can be administered. A newly developed LC-MS/MS method for the determination of PBT in horse meat with LC-MS/MS is described here. The method was validated in-house and its applicability for routine testing was tested following the European legislation requirements.