Emerging nondestructive approaches for meat quality and safety evaluation—A review

Abstract

Meat is one of the most consumed agro-products because it contains proteins, minerals, and essential vitamins, all of which play critical roles in the human diet and health. Meat is a perishable food product because of its high moisture content, and as such there are concerns about its quality, stability, and safety. There are two widely used methods for monitoring meat quality attributes: subjective sensory evaluation and chemical/instrumentation tests. However, these methods are labor-intensive, time-consuming, and destructive. To overcome the shortfalls of these conventional approaches, several researchers have developed fast and nondestructive techniques. Recently, electronic nose (e-nose), computer vision (CV), spectroscopy, hyperspectral imaging (HSI), and multispectral imaging (MSI) technologies have been explored as nondestructive methods in meat quality and safety evaluation. However, most of the studies on the application of these novel technologies are still in the preliminary stages and are carried out in isolation, often without comprehensive information on the most suitable approach. This lack of cohesive information on the strength and shortcomings of each technique could impact their application and commercialization for the detection of important meat attributes such as pH, marbling, or microbial spoilage. Here, we provide a comprehensive review of recent nondestructive technologies (e-nose, CV, spectroscopy, HSI, and MSI), as well as their applications and limitations in the detection and evaluation of meat quality and safety issues, such as contamination, adulteration, and quality classification. A discussion is also included on the challenges and future outlooks of the respective technologies and their various applications.