Authenticity of meat products: Tools against fraud

More than ever, people today demand clear and reliable information about the food they consume. This has a great impact on the economy since the consumer's choice is greatly influenced by the food composition detailed in labelling. In the case of processed meat products this is going to be especially important because a simple visual inspection would not allow us to discriminate between the different components so easily as in the case of fresh meat. In order to assure fair trade, food safety and freedom of choice, honest and accurate food label is a requisite that must be assured by legal authorities. To do that, robust and reliable methodologies of analysis must be implemented in control laboratories. In relation to this, the present review intends to give an overview of the different analytical strategies that have been traditionally used by control laboratories to assess meat authenticity or that could be interesting alternatives for fraud detection in near future. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.