Detection of adulteration in the type and amount of meat in meat products: a systematic review

The aim of this study was to identify methods for detecting composition and fraud in meat foods.

An extensive literature review was conducted in 2022 using the electronic databases: Web of Science, Scopus, SID, and PubMed. The search was limited to articles published in English from 1970 to 2022. Search terms used were “fraud”, “meat products”, “Iran,” “ authentleication,” “detection,” and “adulteration”.

Genetic-based molecular tests (PCR) and less use of histological and chemical tests were used to detect fraud and its type in meat products. PCR was used in 30 cases to identify the type of cheating in meat products such as sausages. Histological methods were used in 19 cases to detect type of violation.

Molecular methods for detecting food fraud are highly accurate; therefore, they have the highest detection rate.