Gelatine Animal Origin Analysis

Gelatine is widely used in food and pharmaceuticals, manufactured predominantly from pig and cow tissue, but also from poultry and fish tissue and potentially from the skin or bone material of any species. Gelatine is a protein derived from collagen and is found in a wide variety of foods including confectioneries (gums, chewable sweets, nougat, liquorice, chewing gum, marshmallows), desserts, yogurts, icing, hams, corned beef, canned meats, injection powders/binding agents and stock cubes. It is often added to food products to bind foods, add elasticity or to add texture. It is also used as a fining agent in the beverage industry and throughout the pharmaceutical and medical industries.

Many consumers choose to avoid the consumption of porcine and bovine material, including vegetarians and those of religious faiths which prohibit the consumption of certain species. Gelatine is a highly processed product and as such, traditional speciation techniques such as DNA technologies and ELISA may not be suitable since much of the DNA and protein is denatured during processing. Fera has developed a peptide LC-MS/MS technique which can be used to determine whether a food product or ingredient contains ruminant or pork gelatine to a known detection level by screening for bovine and porcine gelatine/collagen marker peptides. We also offer a bespoke service to apply a proprietary database to determine whether gelatine/collagen originating from a wide range of other species or phyla is present.

The ability to check and safeguard ingredients in a fragmented and complex supply chain can be difficult. Combined with recent examples of food fraud and the infamous Horsemeat scandal in early 2013, public trust in the origins of food has been in decline. The correct identification of the animal of origin of animal products used in food, pharmaceuticals and animal feed is essential to ensure that these products meet legislative and labelling requirements.