Species and age determination of central nervous system tissue by fatty acid patterns.

The banning of specified risk materials (SRMs) from food chain is one of the most important measures to protect the consumer against any exposition with the agent of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs). In order to control the SRM-ban, suitable methods for the detection of SRMs have to be developed. In this study homogenized samples of central nervous system (CNS) tissue from cattle (n=38), sheep (n=38) and pig (n=40) were analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS).