Biosensor discrimination of meat juice from various animals using a lectin panel and ellipsometry Original Research Article

In this work, simple microcontact printed gold-wafers were used to make a lectin panel for investigation and discrimination of different meat juices from fresh meat of cattle, chicken, pig, cod, turkey and lamb. Seven different lectins were thus attached to gold surfaces using the streptavidin–biotin method. Lectins recognize and bind specifically to carbohydrate structures present on different proteins. The biorecognition was evaluated with null ellipsometry and the data obtained was related to an internal standard of lactoferrin. The data was evaluated with multivariate data analysis techniques to identify possible discrimination or grouping of data. Scanning ellipsometry was used for visualization of the binding pattern of the lectins and the meat juice proteins. The two-dimensional images obtained could be used to visualize the protein distribution, furthermore, to exclude anomalies. The results showed that the different meat juices from the six different species: cattle, chicken, pig, cod, turkey and lamb could be discriminated from each other. The results showed to be more repetitive for the mammalian meat juices. Using a simple model based on an artificial neuronal net, it was also possible to classify meat juices from the mammals investigated.