Stable isotope analysis of cattle tail hair: A potential tool for verifying the geographical origin of beef

Stable isotope ratios of cattle tail hair were investigated for their potential to classify beef from different regions in China. The δ13C, δ15N and δ2H values in 167 cattle tail hair samples from 7 sampling subregions belonging to four beef production regions were measured by IRMS. Variance analysis and linear discriminant analysis (LDA) were employed for this purpose. The results showed that significant differences existed in δ13C, δ15N and δ2H values of tail hair among different sampling regions. An overall correct classification rate of 82.6% and cross-validation rate of 79.6% were obtained for the four beef production regions based on δ13C, δ15N and δ2H values, compared to 70.7% and 70.1% for the seven sampling subregions. These results demonstrated the potential usefulness of stable isotope analysis of cattle tail hair for establishing beef traceability database.