Abstract: The study explored a method based on multi-elements combined with multivariate analysis to authenticate Xinjiang Pishan Hong sheep meat. A total of 36 Pishan Hong sheep and 36 Hu sheep were collected and slaughtered. Semitendinosus and longissimus dorsi muscles were excised from each carcass for analysis of 51 mineral elements by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Results indicated that the mineral elements, especially rare elements, in Xinjiang Pishan Hong sheep meat had distinctive fingerprint characteristics. The linear discriminant analysis (LDA) model built based on the mineral element data showed good discriminant performance for Xinjiang Pishan Hong sheep meat, especially longissimus dorsi with an accuracy of 100% and 99.29% for breed and muscle, respectively. Besides, La, Zn, Cs, Sn, Ho, Fe, Rh, Co, Se, Te, Mo, Al and Sb could be used as the major mineral elements to identify Pishan Hong sheep meat. Among them, Rh, Te and Ho had the highest variable importance in the projection (VIP) scores, and were found only in Pishan Hong sheep meat, thus being the key mineral markers for identifying Pishan Hong sheep meat. The accumulation of characteristic elements was related to regional characteristics.

Key words: Pishan Hong sheep; mineral elements; discriminant analysis; authenticity