Reliability of stable isotope values from meat juice for the determination of the meat origin

For the determination of the origin of foods, analysis of the oxygen and hydrogen isotope composition of the food water often is of great importance, because of the differences in the isotope signature of water between different regions. However, it was reported previously that the changes in δ18O during storage of meat are of such magnitude that existing variations between regions and countries are obscured. We have investigated the δ2H and δ18O changes in meat juice after slaughtering during storage under real cold storage conditions. Our results disagree with a previous publication as we did not observe heavy isotope enrichment of meat juice during industrial cold storages. Additionally we investigated possible changes in δ18O of the meat juice during the roasting process.