Monitoring of imidazole dipeptides in meat products by capillary zone electrophoresis

Abstract

Abstract: A simple capillary zone electrophoretic technique (CZE) was developed for the determination of carnosine and anserine, and the main analytical performance characteristics were determined. The method was used for an analysis of raw meat samples, heat treated as well as high hydrostatic pressure (HHP) treated meat samples, and various meat products. The effect of heat treatment (10 min at 75 °C and 45 min at 90 °C) and HHP (100–600 MPa, 5 min) was investigated on pork longissimus thoracis muscle samples. With the exception of the milder heat treatment a slight decrease was detected in dipeptide contents of treated samples, but significant differences (P < 0.05) were not observed under any treatment. Thirty-two meat-based food products were also analysed. Imidazole dipeptides were detectable in all of them. The poultry products showed a characteristically low carnosine/anserine ratio. The data obtained were consistent with the food label information.