Abstract

Immediately after the animal is slaughter, a large number of biochemical changes in the meat take place, which are critical to characterise the quality development. The evaluation of some metabolites derived from these processes has been proposed as a rapid and simple method to determine the quality of meat and meat products. Currently, the high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) is the technique commonly used in the detection of these compounds. However, the demands of the food industry for a rapid and cheap quality control require analytical methods that can be used on-line. In this sense, enzyme-based amperometric biosensors play a very important role and mean a useful tool for quality control and food safety. In the present Thesis, two enzyme sensors using simple principles of construction have been developed to determine hypoxanthine (Hx) and biogenic amines (BA), as markers of freshness, ripeness and safety in meat and meat products (fermented sausage and cured ham). The enzyme sensor consisted of an oximeter in combination with a free or immobilized enzyme. The enzymes xanthine oxidase (XO) and diamine oxidase (DAO) were used for the determination of Hx and BA, respectively. Furthermore, enzymatic sensors were validated, by correlating their results with those obtained by HPLC as reference method. In addition, a new rapid method for analysis of nucleotides and their derivatives was developed based on hydrophilic interaction chromatography (HILIC), which could be used as a very interesting alternative to current methods.