Review on analytical methods for analysis of porcine gelatine in food and pharmaceutical products for halal authentication

Background: Gelatine is one of the components commonly used in food, cosmetics and pharmaceutical products due to its gelling properties. The most commonly used gelatines in those products are porcine and bovine gelatines. Unclear labelling and information regarding the actual sources of gelatines in products have become the main concern among societies in terms of religion and health aspects. Porcine gelatine (PG) is prohibited to be consumed by Muslim and Jewish and considered non-halal (and non-kosher) following some scholars of thought. While bovine gelatine (BG) is associated with certain diseases of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, as a consequence, there is a need to develop reliable methods for identifying gelatine sources in the products. Scope and approach: This review highlighted some analytical methods including physico-chemical methods as well as biological methods along with advantage and disadvantage for differentiation of gelatines intended to halal authentication studies. Key Findings and Conclusions: Some analytical methods are used for screening PG and BG using physicochemical properties including chemical precipitation, functional groups (FTIR spectroscopy), amino acid composition (liquid chromatography), detection and quantification of DNA (real-time polymerase chain reaction/RT-PCR), molecular weight distribution (electrophoresis), and protein (Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, ELISA). These methods are confirmed by identification of peptide markers which are specific for PG and BG using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) and DNA based method using polymerase chain reaction.