Methods of differentiating animal species in foods - Status quo

Abstract

In the field of animal differentiation, work on standardizing methods has been intensified in Germany in recent years, not least due to the horsemeat scandal in 2013. Even though there are now hardly ever any positive findings anymore in examinations to detect horse adulterations in foods such as lasagne, animal differentiation altogether ranks high in detecting adulteration of foods. This article, therefore, summarises the current status of analytical techniques used in Germany with standardization at German level. It has been established by the working group Biochemical and Molecular Biological Analytics of the Lebensmittelchemische Gesellschaft (Food Chemistry Society within the German Chemical Society) with support of experts in the working group “Molecular techniques for differentiating plant and animal species (§64 of the German Food and Feed Code - LFGB) and the Immunology and molecular biology task force of the food hygiene and food of animal origin working group (ALTS), both from Germany.