Overall research question is formulated as follows:

The research will investigate the naturally occurring levels of nicotinic acid and nicotinamide, the ratio between the two components as well as their stability over time in order to distinguish the natural presence from intentional addition in meat, meat preparations and meat products, which can be considered fraud. This research will make it possible to carry out and correctly interpret a high-performance analysis in the event of fraud detection.

Specific research questions are:

• Development of a high-performance and validated LC-MS/MS method for nicotinic acid and nicotinamide determination in a meat matrix;
• Mapping the variation of the natural content of nicotinic acid and nicotinamide in various fresh meats through the analysis of nicotinic acid (mg/kg), nicotinamide (mg/kg), total niacin (mg/kg) (as sum) as well as the % of nicotinic acid in total niacin. When selecting the meat samples, the common animal types and production systems in Belgium are sampled as representatively as possible. This distribution will allow a reliable baseline to be established for the natural content of these compounds in meat;
• Gain insight into the influence of post-mortem factors (storage and processing) on the levels of nicotinic acid and nicotinamide in fresh meat and meat preparations;
• Carrying out a (limited) monitoring of meat preparations present on the Belgian market to test and propose the developed methodology.