Application of Stable Isotope Ratio Analysis for Origin Authentication of Pork

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Origin authenticity of the animals used as food has always been a major concern to consumers around the world. In the past twenty years, a stable isotope ratio has been used for origin authentication. In this study, pork samples, both local and imported, were collected from the major markets from all around South Korea and analyzed for stable isotope ratios of nitrogen (δ^15N‰) and carbon (δ^13C‰), using Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry (IR-MS). A total of 599 samples with 335 Korean and 264 imported from 13 countries within America and Europe were investigated in accordance to the standard established methods for isotope ratio analysis. The results showed a significant variation related to the origin of the samples, explaining the difference in the feeding styles of the pork in each country. The stable isotope ratio values of carbon (δ^13C‰) were found in the decreasing order of: America (-15.55±1.01‰)>Korea (-19.62±0.89‰)>Europe (-24.79±1.35‰). Canada was having δ^13C ratio of -22.87±0.92‰, which is very low in the region of America and very close to Europe (-23.78 to - 27.17‰). For nitrogen δ15N‰ the order was: America (4.92±0.71‰)>Europe (4.54±0.66‰)>Korea (3.69±0.54‰), with a slight variation among countries in each region studied. From the results it was concluded that the stable isotope ratio of the pork samples from different countries provide enough information about the origin and is therefore a potential tool which can be employed for origin authentication.