GC/MS detection of central nervous tissues as specified BSE risk material in meat products: validation by an externally controlled blind trial.

The addition of central nervous tissues (CNT), such as brain and spinal cord, in the manufacturing of meat products is either forbidden--if the material falls under the legal definition of specified risk material (SRM)--or must be labelled on the packed product. To foster official food control, several CNT detection methods were developed, but only fatty acid patterns as detected by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) allow the further characterization of the detected CNT as to both the animal species and--surprisingly--the age of the animal from which the CNT was derived in accordance with the legal definition. Complementing a previous report in this journal by Lücker et al.

GC/MS detection of central nervous tissue as specified BSE risk material in meat products and meat and bone meals: thermal stability of markers in comparison with immunochemistry and RT-PCR.

Methods for the detection of central nervous tissue (CNT) are urgently needed in food control as a means for controlling strict adherence to both food labeling and banning of specified BSE risk material. Here, we report data on heat stability of the CNT markers neuron-specific enolase (NSE) in western blotting, glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) in an enzyme linked immunoassay, mRNA(GFAP) in a real-time PCR assay, and several fatty acids (C22:6, C24:0-OH, C24:1ω9/ω7, C24:1ω9-OH/ω7-OH, and C24:0) in gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC/MS). The sample matrix, a standard material of emulsion-type sausage with varied contents of CNT (brain), was heat-treated in three studies: (1) routine meat technological heat treatment with low (85 °C, 30 min), medium (115 °C, 30 min), and high (133 °C, 30 min, 3 bar) heating of 72 anonymous samples from a blind trial; (2) heat treatment under experimental conditions (100, 110, …, 200 °C, 45 min); and (3) fractionized heating of central nervous system (up to three times) under moderate routine technological conditions (85, 100, and 115 °C, 30 min).

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).

Sequential pressurized liquid extraction to determine brain-originating fatty acids in meat products as markers in bovine spongiform encephalopathy risk assessment studies.

A new approach using sequential pressurized liquid extraction described recently [J. Poerschmann, R. Carlson, J.

Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies: assessment of exposure risk in the histological working environment using GC-MS detection of fatty acids as marker for central nervous tissues.

To elucidate the risk of occupational exposure to the agent of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSE) in the histological working environment, we assessed the principal suitability of three analytical methods for the detection of tissues of the central nervous system (CNT). We tested a neuron-specific enolase (NSE) Western blot, a glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) ELISA and the GC-MS detection of some CNT typical fatty acids (FAs): omega9-tetracosenic acid, omega7-tetracosenic acid, lignoceric acid, and cerebronic acid. Histological sample processing (formalin fixation, dehydration, paraffin embedding) affected both of the immunochemical approaches considerably.