The quality of sausages now will be easily detectable through computed micro-X-ray scanning, the method being developed by researchers from NCFU. This technology now allows precise identification if the respective food product meets the official requirements, so this will prevent any cheap product to be presented as something of a higher quality.

As the researchers explained, when meat is treated mechanically, bones are separated from the meat not manually yet through a mechanical press. This is much cheaper yet the minced meat may contain some particles of the bones. This meat is allowed to be used to produce sausages yet the manufacturer is to inform the potential consumer by pacing respective note on the label. Besides, Russia and some other countries have respective regulations regarding the maximum allowed size of bone particles, while some manufacturers fail to stick to the requirements.

– Chemical analysis of the product, for instance, often detects calcium ions in the product, although they are present not only in the bones, yet also in milk powder, herbal preparations, which can also be contained in the sausage, – Andrey Nagdalyan (Associate Professor, Department of Food Technologies and Engineering, NCFU) noted. – We suggest using computed micro-scanning, which allows separating bone calcium from non-bone calcium. Apart from accuracy and reliability, this method offers some more advantages – convenience and ease of use above all.

While carrying out the experiment, the researchers used products manufactured by various companies, and all the samples were found to contain bone particles even though this was not claimed by the producer.

– We do not mean to accuse our manufacturers of being dishonest, – Natalia Oboturova (Acting Director, Institute of Life Science, NCFU) was quoted as saying. – What we are aiming at is helping them brin the quality and the safety of their products up, as well as make sure that the information on the labels meets the global Clean Label requirements.

For more details of the method and the obtained outcomes, please read the respective article published in the Journal of Food Composition and Analysis.