Isotopic and elemental characterization of Romanian pork meat in corroboration with advanced chemometric methods: A first exploratory study

In this study 93 pork meat samples (tenderloin) were analyzed via isotope ratios mass spectrometry (δ2H, δ18O, δ13C) and inductively coupled plasma – Mass spectrometry (55 elements). The meat samples are coming from Romania and abroad. Those from Romania are originating from conventional farms and yard rearing system. The analytical results in conjunction with linear discriminant analysis (LDA) and artificial neural networks (ANNs) were used to assess: The geographical origin, and animal diet. The most powerful markers which could differentiate pork meat samples concerning the geographical origin were δ18O, terbium, and tin. The results of chemometric models showed that, along with 13C signature, rubidium concentration, and a few rare earth-elements (lanthanum, and cerium) were efficient to discriminate animal diet in a percent of 97.8% (initial classification) and 94.6% (cross-validation), respectively. Some of predictors for feeding regime differentiation by using LDA were identified also to be the best markers to distinguish corn-based diet by using ANNs (δ13C, Rb, La).