Report of the Scientific Committee of the Spanish Agency for Consumer Affairs, Food Safety and Nutrition (AECOSAN) about histological methods for differentiating between meat preparations and meat products

The distinction between meat preparation and meat product is carried out using different histological methods. The Section of Food Safety and Nutrition of the Scientific Committee of the Spanish Agency for Consumer Affairs, Food Safety and Nutrition (AECOSAN) has reviewed the information available about five histological methods, their analysis protocol and the relevant scientific literature. It has concluded that no scientific literature has been found that defines the criteria or characteristics of the appropriate analytical methods for determining the loss of histological characteristics of fresh meat. Likewise, there are methods that do not outline objective criteria for categorisation, they depend entirely on the subjectivity of the analyst and are therefore not very reliable. Some of the methods allow for objective quantification of the results and, although they depend on the experience of the analysts for the microscopic examination of the samples, there are welldefined interpretation criteria. However, the uncertainty of the methods is not provided, nor has a validation of them been carried out in accordance with the generally accepted guidelines (for example Standard UNE-EN ISO/IEC 17025:2005). At present, these methods for histological differentiation are considered as a good starting point for establishing the transition from meat preparation to meat product. However, in order to determine their validity, it is necessary to continue to work to identify robust methods that allow for this assessment and/or quantification of the histological modifications of muscle in its transformation into meat and subsequent loss of structure, not only with micrographic methods, but rather with other complementary methods that objectively indicate the denaturation of meat protein.