Quality of minced meat from Croatian market

Cilj ovog rada bio je ispitati kvalitetu mljevenog mesa dostupnog na hrvatskom tržištu, uključujući svinjsko i goveđe mljeveno meso te ocijeniti sukladnost s obzirom na propisane zahtjeve za mljeveno meso definirane Uredbom EU br. 1169/2011. Korišteni su komercijalno dostupni uzorci, podijeljeni u 3 kategorije ovisno o vrsti mesa od kojeg se mljeveno meso sastoji. Za potrebe istraživanja, analizirano je ukupno 42 uzorka mljevenog mesa od toga: 12 uzoraka u kategoriji goveđeg mljevenog mesa, 13 u kategoriji svinjskog mljevenog mesa, a 17 uzoraka miješanog mljevenog mesa (svinjsko i goveđe u omjeru 60:40). Parametri kvalitete mljevenog mesa ispitani su primjenom standardnih akreditiranih metoda: udio kolagena (spektrofotometrijska metoda HRN ISO 3496:1999), udio bjelančevina (titracijska metoda po Kjeldahl-u HRN ISO 937:1999) i udio masti (gravimetrijska metoda po Soxhlet-u HRN ISO 1443:1999). Analizom dobivenih rezultata utvrđeno je da devet uzoraka ne udovoljava zahtjevima propisanim u Pravilniku. Radi se o uzorcima čiji je omjer kolagena i bjelančevina te udio ukupne masti prelazio graničnu vrijednost. Sljedeći rezultate analize moglo bi se zaključiti da mesna industrija u manjem postotku zavarava potrošače u vidu vjerodostojnosti informacija koje su istaknute na deklaracijama mesnih proizvoda. Mljeveno meso koje u svom sastavu sadrži meso slabije kvalitete je upravo meso bogato vezivnim tkivom i količinom masti iznad dozvoljene granice što je u radu i utvrđeno analizama količine hidroksiprolina i ukupne masti.Food quality is a fundamental aspect of food that is affected by consumer demands and depends on the quality of the raw materials, the choice of technological processing process and the quality of the packaging material for the final product. Consciousness of food production as well as its quality is nowadays diminished, so the food industry in many ways tries to fool the consumer to maximise profit. The most common form of consumer malpractice is selling a product under a false name - counterfeit so it is the aim of such an act to conceal the poor quality of the final product, which means that the authenticity of the food in view of the credibility of the information that has been highlighted is substantially impaired. One example of food counterfeit is the inappropriate composition of minced meat with respect to the labelling of the packaged product. The aim of this paper was to examine the quality of minced meat available on the Croatian market, including pork and beef minced meat and to evaluate compliance with the requirements for minced meat as defined in the EU Regulation no. 1169/2011. Commercially available samples were used, divided into 3 categories depending on the type of meat from which the minced meat was produced. For the purpose of the research, a total of 42 samples of minced meat were analyzed, of which: 12 samples in the beef minced meat category, 13 in the pork minced meat category, and 17 mixed minced meat samples (pork and beef meat ratio 60:40). Meat quality parameters were tested using standard accredited methods: collagen content (spectrophotometric method HRN ISO 3496: 1999), protein content (Kjeldahl titration method HRN ISO 937: 1999) and fat content (Soxhlet gravimetric method HRN ISO 1443: 1999). An analysis of the obtained results found that nine samples did not meet the requirements from the Ordinance. For all of them collagen to protein ratio and proportion of total fat exceed the limit value. Following the results of the analysis, it could be concluded that the meat industry is partially misleading consumers in terms of the credibility of the information on minced meat declarations. Minced meat, which in its composition contains meat of lower quality, is precisely meat rich in connective tissue and fat content above the permitted limit, which is founded in the study by analyzing the amount of hydroxyproline and total fat