Electrochemical profiling using copper nanoparticle-plated electrode for identification of ostrich meat and evaluation of meat grades

Electrochemical (EC) profiling employing copper nanoparticle-plated screen-printed electrode (Cun-SPE) exhibited specific selectivity and sensitivity to peptides that could efficiently differentiate ostrich meat from pork, beef and chicken, and to evaluate grades and freshness of ostrich meat. The four meats were differentiated in 5 min by characteristic chromatographic profiles consisting only four major peaks. Peak identification by LC/MS/MS suggested that while lysine and glutamine were shown as common components, anserine were the avian-specific and carnosine was the ostrich-missing peptide in the EC profile. Statistical analysis (ROC curve) demonstrated that peak ratios could be used to evaluate ostrich meat grades with high sensitivity (up to 95%) and specificity (up to 100%). The effects of storage temperature and time were studied for potential use of Cun-SPE to evaluate meat freshness. This HPLC-EC method appeared to be superior to UV detection in terms of profile simplicity and devoid of derivatisation process or complex sample extraction procedures, rendering it a suitable method for routine rapid differentiation of ostrich meat from common meat species with the ability to simultaneously differentiate ostrich meat grades.