Meat is one of the most important food products as a source of high-grade protein, fats, minerals, extractives and some vitamins. Its nutritional value is determined by the chemical composition, energy value, taste properties and level of digestibility. According to modern scientific assessment, meat is a functional food supply that provides "healthy eating" and the ability of people to work. Meat products are foods in which the meat raw material is not less than 50% and consist of muscle tissue of warm-blooded herbivores and poultry with the addition of a small amount of spices and other ingredients (according to technical requirements), they have undergone a technological process processing and ready for sale and use in food.

The falsification of meat and meat products is common in Ukraine and in the world. Falsify products by partially or completely replacing components, or adding components of poor quality. The negative impact of foodstuff fraud can not be underestimated, since along with economic costs, it causes a number of negative physiological and moral consequences for both the individual consumer and society as a whole. The results of such effects are loss of health, reduced life expectancy and increased mortality from illness and food poisoning, deterioration of nutritional structure due to the growth of the proportion of low-quality and low-grade products.

That is why scientists are developing effective ways to identify and detect the falsification of raw materials and products of animal and plant origin to achieve the safety and quality of products being sold.

Works of many scholars Kotsyubas I.Ya., Kotsyubbas GI, Fotina T.I., Senchenko AL, Bogatko N.M., O.M. Schebentovskaya and others are aimed at detecting cases of falsification of meat products by the use of modern methods. The method of microstructural analysis of meat raw materials, semi-finished products and finished products enables to identify the composition of components, which is why it is constantly being improved and implemented in practice. The method was developed by the staff of the Laboratory of Immunomorphology of DNDKI Veterinary Preparations and Feed Supplements, approved by Derzhspozhyvstandard of Ukraine (DSTU 7063: 2009 "Semi-finished meat and meat and vegetable saphenous. Determination of components by microstructural method").

According to the Consumer Protection Committee, in Ukraine about 80% of food products are falsified on one or more indicators. Assortment falsification is the most widespread – it is a fake carried out by a complete or partial replacement of a food product by its substitute of another type or name, while preserving the similarity of one or more of its characteristic features. Among the assortment of falsifications, the most common is the partial replacement of a high-quality product with low-grade, partial replacement of the natural product artificial. In this case, state control is not able to stop both the production of domestic low-quality products and the import of goods of doubtful quality into the territory of Ukraine, which primarily concerns foodstuffs and semi-finished products.

In recent years, the number of medium and small meat processing enterprises has increased, which has considerably increased the assortment and volumes of production of meat products, which are manufactured, mainly according to the manufacturer's TU, the formulation of which allows them to falsify. It is difficult for a consumer to choose a good product, buying meat products in retail chains, it is often possible to buy a low-quality product, not only that, which is falsified. Moreover, the high cost of the product does not guarantee its quality, and the information indicated on the package may be unreliable.

Falsification of food is one of the most urgent topics in Ukraine and the world today and requires an objective approach to address. As producers increasingly resort to violations of the prescription component ratio, in order to reduce their cost of production. One type of meat raw material is replaced by another, cheaper and less valuable in food, for example, byproducts, meat of mechanical collapse, skin, tendons, meat and bone meal, and also add dry milk, egg powder, vegetable raw materials (starch, flour, soya, corn, rape, vegetable fats, etc.). In addition, moisture-containing components, artificial flavors, dyes, preservatives, stabilizers, emulsifiers, antibiotics and other food additives are added in large quantities, while changes made to the formulation are not indicated or indicated in the package in part. Thus, the manufacturer supplies fake goods at the cost of high-quality and expensive.

Today, humanity faces an important issue. How to choose quality and safe meat products, which normative-legal acts regulate this issue in Ukraine?

Today, the following legislation is in force in Ukraine: Law of Ukraine dated May 12, 1991 No. 1024-XII "On Consumer Protection"; Law of Ukraine dated September 6, 2005 No. 280-15 "On the safety and quality of food products"; Technical regulations concerning the rules for labeling food products, approved by the Order of Derzhspozhyvstandart of Ukraine dated October 28, 2010 No. 487; DSTU 4518: 2008 "Food products. Labeling for consumers ".

According to the requirements of most countries of the world, including Ukraine, the manufacturer must mark his products, indicating on the package all the ingredients from which the food product is made. Since labeling is information on meat and meat products, put on the packaging in accordance with the requirements of regulations and regulations.

According to EU Directive No. 258/97 and EU Council Regulation No. 1139/98, the content of new ingredients in foods should not exceed the norm (for example, the modified protein is not more than 2%). The labeling of meat and meat products must be carried out taking into account the requirements of the Law of Ukraine "On Safety and Quality of Food Products", which establishes mandatory requirements and prohibits the circulation of food products whose labeling does not comply with the requirements of Article 38 of this Law. The marking must contain information on the type of meat raw material from which the product is made. This is done so that the consumer has the opportunity to make an informed choice according to his tastes, opportunities and religious beliefs.

The Law "On Protection of Consumer Rights" stipulates that the producer is obliged to convey to the consumer products of the proper quality, as well as provide information about it.

Unfortunately, because of the imperfection of the Ukrainian legislation, which does not provide sufficient control of producers and does not oblige to manufacture products only in accordance with the State Standard, manufacturers develop and use TU for products and, accordingly, manage the technical process on their own, which gives them more opportunities for falsification of the goods. To reduce the cost of the product, they often resort to substituting one type of meat raw material for another (chicken instead of pork, beef, etc.), adding soy protein instead of meat and other components. Often falsification uses soy protein, which can be genetically modified.

State regulation of the quality and safety indexes of meat and meat products is carried out by setting standards of these indicators in regulations, standards and other normative documents on products. One of the requirements proposed for product information in the Law of Ukraine "On the Safety and Quality of Food Products" is data on the composition of the food product, if it is made of several ingredients, indicating the names, components used in the process of manufacturing food, food additives, dyes, other substances or compounds. Nutritional supplements are widely used in the food industry and are provided with a recipe for products. Therefore, in international practice, component signs are used for this purpose, and on the packaging of most of the imported goods, indices representing authorized food additives are indicated.

Taking into account the aforementioned, there is a need to establish the species belonging to meat products of domestic producers. Definition not only of the kind of meat raw material, but also testing for the subject of falsification of plant components, which is carried out using the following methods of diagnostics: molecular genetic – polymerase chain reaction; microstructural analysis; serological – ELISA; method of spectrophotometry, etc.

These studies are carried out by producers of products for the purpose of controlling technological processes in production, trading networks for the purpose of controlling producers, consumers for information purposes, exporters – for obtaining a Halal certificate for export to Arab-Muslim countries.

The economic situation in Ukraine has affected the level of solvency of the population, and imperfect legislative provision encourages producers to falsify meat products with low value raw materials. This, in turn, led to the uncontrolled spread of falsifications, even among the most well-known brands in the country.

Widespread use in the production of meat products of various types of raw material of animal and plant origin, as well as nutritional additives with multifunctional technological properties, requires the search for new modern methods of control of the composition of meat products for the objective assessment of the quality and safety and the necessity of laboratory tests.

Given the difficult situation in the meat products market of Ukraine, there is a need to control compliance with the requirements for the production technology and labeling of meat products.