Detection and quantitation of additions of soybean proteins in cured-meat products by perfusion reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography

Abstract

Perfusion liquid chromatography has been applied in this work to the determination of soybean proteins in commercially available cured meat products, enabling the detection of additions of soybean proteins in cured meat products to which the addition of these vegetable proteins is forbidden and the quantitation of soybean proteins in cured meat products to which the addition of these proteins is allowed up to a certain limit. The analytical methodology is based on a sample treatment (fat extraction and soybean protein solubilization) prior to chromatographic analysis. Fat extraction with acetone and soybean protein solubilization with a buffer solution at basic pH (pH 10 or 9) were necessary to obtain selective and sensitive conditions. Use of water-acetonitrile-trifluoroacetic acid or water-tetrahydrofuran-trifluoroacetic acid linear binary gradients at a flow rate of 3 mL/min, a temperature of 50 degrees C, and UV detection at 280 nm enabled chromatographic analysis of soybean proteins in cured meat products in less than 3 min.