Nanomolar electrochemical detection of feed additive ractopamine in meat samples using spinel zinc ferrite decorated 3-dimensional graphene nanosheets to combat food fraud in livestock industries

Deepak Balram; Kuang-Yow Lian; Neethu Sebastian; Salman S Alharthi; Hamed M Al-Saidi; Deepak Kumar

doi:10.1016/j.foodchem.2023.137868

Nanomolar electrochemical detection of feed additive ractopamine in meat samples using spinel zinc ferrite decorated 3-dimensional graphene nanosheets to combat food fraud in livestock industries

Food Chem. 2024 Mar 30;437(Pt 1):137868. doi: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2023.137868. Epub 2023 Oct 27.

Authors

Deepak Balram¹, Kuang-Yow Lian², Neethu Sebastian³, Salman S Alharthi⁴, Hamed M Al-Saidi⁵, Deepak Kumar⁶

Affiliations

¹ Department of Electrical Engineering, National Taipei University of Technology, No. 1, Section 3, Zhongxiao East Road, Taipei 106, Taiwan, ROC.
² Department of Electrical Engineering, National Taipei University of Technology, No. 1, Section 3, Zhongxiao East Road, Taipei 106, Taiwan, ROC. Electronic address: kylian@mail.ntut.edu.tw.
³ Institute of Organic and Polymeric Materials, Department of Molecular Science and Engineering, National Taipei University of Technology, No. 1, Section 3, Zhongxiao East Road, Taipei 106, Taiwan, ROC.
⁴ Department of Chemistry, College of Science, Taif University, P.O. Box 11099, Taif 21944, Saudi Arabia.
⁵ Department of Chemistry, University College in Al-Jamoum, Umm Al-Qura University, 21955 Makkah, Saudi Arabia.
⁶ Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Shoolini University, Solan 173229, Himachal Pradesh, India.

PMID: 37918154
DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2023.137868

Abstract

Accurate detection of feed additive is significant for food safety monitoring, warding off its illegal use in livestock production, safeguarding public health, and regulatory compliance. Hence, this paper presents a cost-effective and ultrasensitive electrochemical sensor for detecting commonly used animal feed additive, ractopamine to combat food frauds in meat samples. The sensor was created by embedding spinel zinc ferrite nanospheres (ZnFe₂O₄) on three-dimensional graphene (3DG) nanosheets using sonochemical method. ZnFe₂O₄ nanospheres were synthesized using solvothermal approach, and 3DG was prepared using hydrothermal method. Various characterization techniques were used for inspecting structural and morphological properties of materials, including XRD, SEM, TEM, elemental mapping, Raman spectroscopy, XPS, and EIS. The hybrid nanocomposite modified electrode showed excellent electrochemical performance, with high sensitivity of 16.97 μA μM^-1 cm^-2 and detection limit of 1 nM. The practicality of sensor was demonstrated by performing real sample analysis in pork, beef, and sausage which gave adequate recovery.

Keywords: Electrochemical detection; Food additive; Food fraud; Meat samples; Ractopamine; Zinc ferrite.

MeSH terms

Animals
Cattle
Electrochemical Techniques / methods
Electrodes
Graphite* / chemistry
Livestock
Meat / analysis
Zinc

Substances

Graphite
Zinc
spinell
ractopamine
ferrite