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The majority of l-cysteine is obtained industrially by hydrolysis of animal materials, such as poultry feathers. Despite widespread belief, there is little evidence that human hair is used as a… Click to show full abstract
The majority of l-cysteine is obtained industrially by hydrolysis of animal materials, such as poultry feathers. Despite widespread belief, there is little evidence that human hair is used as a source material and its use is explicitly banned in the European Union (2000/63/EC decision). We developed an isotope ratio mass spectrometric (EA-IRMS) method to determine carbon and nitrogen isotopic ratio in cysteine preparations and related compounds, e.g. cystine and carbocysteine. A threshold relying on the 15N/14N was established to differentiate between hair and feathers; a value below 6.6‰ indicates a poultry feathers origin. Global uncertainty of measurement was found to be 0.1‰ for δ15N (sample size of 0.5-1.8 mg).
Journal Title: Food chemistry
Year Published: 2018
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