Meat and meat products were undergone to adulteration due to its high price and cause many diseases
and economic losses for consumers. Fifty samples of minced meat and sausage (25 each)
were collected randomly from supermarkets in Assiut city. The samples were subjected to histological
and chemical analysis for detection of adulteration. Histologically, adulteration was detected in
minced meat and sausage by addition of smooth muscle fibers of hollow organs, heart muscles,
spongy bone, thyroid glands, adipose tissue, lung, blood vessels, intestine, proventriculus, ruminant
stomach, tendons, cartilage, fascia, nerve trunk, brain, plant tissues include poppy seeds, color
additives, cysts and parts of parasites. By ATPase histochemistry, fetal tissue in minced meat and
sausage were suspected to add with abundant dark (slow-contracted) muscle fiber than light (fastcontracting)
ones. Adulteration of minced meat and sausage with bone tissues was a statistically
significant difference (p < 005) and adulteration with plant cells was a statistically significant difference
(p < 001). The results of the histological examination showed that the total adulteration
in minced meat and sausage samples were 88% and 100%, respectively. The chemical analysis
revealed that the percent of adulterated samples were (8) 32% and (10) 40% when estimating protein
contents in minced meat and sausage, respectively, while the adulteration was 100% in each of
them by estimating the fat contents in the examined samples. The study proved that the histological
technique with chemical analysis were effective complementary methods for qualitative evaluations
of meat products adulteration.
Advanced Microscopy Research