AOAC SPIFAN Stakeholder Panel Meeting Book (March 14, 2019)

Additional Research On Total vs. Free Taurine (cont.) …there was a huge difference for pet food matrices – which have partial or no added taurine in the formulation to meet specification. My memory is that taurine was bound in the protein (meat) ingredients. If the pet food matrix was tested without hydrolysis – results were very low. After hydrolysis they were detected at much higher levels.

Further Discussion • In some samples there appears to be a real difference in free versus total taurine results. However based on the data we have currently it is difficult to discern the source of this additional taurine (bile acids, Maillard reaction products, or true peptides). • There are additional references in the literature to bound taurine, but they are less common than references to free. In addition to AOAC 999.12 we found the following potentially relevant references.