Detection of amaranth as an additive in meat products using histochemical methods

This work deals with the microscopic characterisation of amaranth seed and amaranth flour in model meat products using histochemical methods. Amaranth is used as an additive in meat products. Grit made of crude amaranth seeds had a positive effect on water-holding capacity of stuffing and allowed a reduction to cooking losses in cans. This improved water-holding capacity resulted in an improvement to the tenderness, juiciness and taste of canned meat. With the assistance of the histological method, several model samples consisting of a mixture of beef and pork musculature with pure amaranth flour in various concentrations were created. We used three types of staining in order to pick out the flour in the individual chains of samples for microscopic detection: basic staining with haematoxylin and eosin, special staining by means of the PAS – Calleja method, and staining with toluidine blue. Special staining by means of the PAS – Calleja method has proved the most evidentiary method for detecting even the tiniest parts of amaranth flour in the musculature. Grains of starch were subsequently examined to find the best staining method for picking out and the conclusiveness of the starchy grains. The best method seems to be toluidine blue staining.