Detection of herbal tissues in raw meat products using histology method

The usage of unauthorized tissues, proteins and fillers with herbal origin in manufacture of meat products has increased in recent years. In order to control ingredients of these products, chemical tests are not accountable and histological methodsshould be used. This study was carried out aimed to investigate different herbals and proteins structures used in preparation of unheated meat products (hamburger), and comparing them with skeletal muscle tissue using histology.In this study, skeletal muscle tissue of chicken breast, soybeans, soy isolate, gluten, onion, garlic, onion powder, garlic powder, capsicum and mushrooms were used. After separate productionof each homogenized mixture, samples were placed in 10% buffered formalin for fixation. The 6 μ thickness sections were made using paraffin embedding method and stained by hematoxylin and eosin (H&E)and Masson’s trichrome. Results of tissue sections of soy, gluten, garlic and onion showed that these mixtures similar to skeletal muscle and other animal tissues have cell structure that their separation is difficult in H&E staining. In Masson’s trichrome, these herbal tissue structures were completely distinguishable from skeletal muscle.Through key diagnostic findings in this study, we can say that, histology with help of specific staining, such as Masson’s trichrome is considered as a suitable method for detection of herbal structure from authorized and unauthorized tissues in raw meat products.