Quantitative determination of myoglobin and haemoglobin in beef by high-performance liquid chromatography

Three different HPLC columns were tested for their suitability for the analysis of myoglobin and haemoglobin in beef. Complete separation of the two proteins was obtained with an anion exchange column and a column based on hydrophobic interaction. With the latter column a recovery close to 100% was obtained for both proteins when they were added to meat extracts. For both proteins, the standard error of the mean for repeated analyses of ground beef was less than 2% of the detected amount. The method is considered as suited for quantitative routine analysis of myoglobin and haemoglobin in beef and beef products.