Natural Radioactivity Measurements Applied to the Dating and Authentication of Edible Meat

TL;DR

This study explores using natural radioactivity ratios in bones to accurately determine the age of animals at death, aiding in meat authentication and combating food fraud.

Contribution

It introduces a gamma spectrometry method to assess animal age through bone radioisotope ratios, improving reliability over previous dating techniques.

Findings

Preliminary validation with retail samples supports the method.

Potential to detect meat fraud such as mislabeling of lamb and mutton.

Ongoing collaboration with authorities to refine and implement the technique.

Abstract

The measurement of the ratio of 228Th vs 228Ra, two isotopes from the natural radioactivity, is an ancient, but not entirely reliable, method of dating biological materials. It has been applied for the dating of fishes with mitigated results in many cases. It has been also experimented with mixed success in forensics cases where the question of how long a person whose bones were found was dead. Here too, the precision of the results is not satisfactory. Other applications concern age dating oil and gas waste waters spills. Our goal, while based on the same measurement of the ratio of the two radiosiotopes, is different. We aim at assessing the age of an animal at the date of its death, in particular for the animals intended for human consumption. The measurement technique relies on gamma spectrometry of the bones of 228Th and 228Ra stemming from ingested food and from the environment. A strong incentive to our research is fraudulent sales of meat with falsified identification. For instance, mutton sold as lamb, which is more expensive. Depending on the country of origin, this is complicated by varying legal definitions of the animal category, which renders controls for imported meat difficult. Preliminary measurements with retail samples of approximate identification validate the procedure. Further and more precise inquiries in a collaborative work with the French Ministry's Anti-Fraud Agency (equivalent of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration) are on their way.