Tracing lamb meat with stable isotope ratio analysis: a review

The analysis of stable isotopes applied to the lamb meat matrix is recognized as a technique of choice not only for geographical traceability but also for verifying the correspondence between the diet provided and the prescribed one. Indeed, a large amount of information is stored in animal tissues in terms of stable isotopes relative abundances of different elements. The purpose of this review is to critically analyze all the studies carried out on lambs, focusing in particular on the isotope ratios of carbon, nitrogen, sulfur, hydrogen and oxygen of different matrices, trying to define the different ranges of variability based on the origin and diet of the lambs. Carbon is certainly the most useful for identifying the animal diet while oxygen and hydrogen confirm their ability to geographically discriminate lambs. Overall, the results of statistical models validating isotope traceability systems can reach and exceed 90% of accuracy