Brazilian meat regulations allow the use of non-meat extenders in certain meat products. Thus, the need for controlling the use of these ingredients with proper analytical methods is evident, in order to avoid illegal addition. In the present research, SDS-PAGE electrophoresis has been applied to pork enhanced with 1.5% of soy protein isolate and whey protein concentrate, through two different methods of protein extraction (urea 6M and Tris-HCl-SDS-mercaptoethanol), in the presence of positive and negative controls. Electrophoresis has revealed typical profiles, for whole-muscle and non-meat proteins, showing to be adequate to detect the addition of whey proteins in meat products. However, the soy proteins could not be detected, due to the overlapping of bands with meat proteins.
meat products; frauds; electrophoresis; non-meat ingredients
