Application of spectroscopic techniques in heavy metal analysis for meat quality assurance

Quality assurance is a critical aspect of human food. Meat is one of the major high-quality protein suppliers to the human body and plays an essential role in our daily meals. With industrialization, heavy metals became major food contaminants leading to serious health risks. FAAS (Flame Atomic Absorption Spectrometry), GFAAS (Graphite Furnace Atomic Absorption Spectrometry), ICP-MS (Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry) and ICP-OES (Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometry) are analytical methods that promise consumer safety by ensuring quality assurance of meat and meat products with their accurate and reliable analytical capacity. Their characteristics may vary with their theory of analysis and advancement of applied technology. Dry ashing, wet digestion, microwave-assisted digestion, and ultrasonic extraction like different sample preparation techniques or direct analysis after slurry preparation like simple sample preparation, are involved with spectroscopic analytical methods to prevent the sample matrix effect. These methods are validated based on parameters such as LOD (Limit of Detection), LOQ (Limit of Quantification), recovery %, relative standard deviation, and characteristic mass to ensure their reliability.