Multi-Country Study of Stable Isotopes and Mineral Elements in European Pork

European pork production pursues traceability and authenticity to ensure animal welfare, food safety, and support products with geographical indications. This study reports a European survey integrating stable isotope ratios (δ13C, δ15N, δ34S, δ18O, δ2H) and multi-element profiling using IRMS and ICP-MS, on 612 samples collected across Denmark, Poland, Italy, and Spain, with diverse production systems, breeds, feeding, and slaughter ages. Geographical and climatic gradients influenced δ2H and δ18O, which ranged from −111‰ to −89‰ in samples from Denmark and Spain and from 13.3‰ to 16.0‰ in samples from Italy and Spain, respectively. In selected farms, δ13C ranged from −22.7‰ to −17.0‰ depending on diet composition based on C3 and C4 plants. The wide variability in pig management practices suggested that δ15N (2.50 ÷ 4.96‰) increased with slaughter age and was positively correlated with Fe (3.38 ÷ 8.39 mg/kg) and Zn (9.39 ÷ 23.6 mg/kg). Most mineral components were mainly driven by feed formulation and supplementation. Principal component analysis (PCA) showed that samples were grouped based on their origin and husbandry system, confirming the key role of isotopic and elemental markers for the development of a database supporting the pork supply chains across Europe.