NMR imaging of meat

Abstract

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a tool of choice that responds to some of the challenges facing the meat industry. This imaging method, which is threedimensional and offers multiple contrast options, gives access to several types of information on meat products. Its nondestructiveness lends it a further advantage for the longitudinal monitoring of products during processing. The nature of the information produced is closely dependent on the scale of observation. At the voxel scale, MRI shows the distribution of certain components of interest, in particular fat, connective tissue and water in meat products, and also salt via sodium MRI. Indirect measurement, based on the quantification of parameters sensitive to microstructural organizations, allows a finer level of observation providing information at cell scale and even subcellular scale: diffusion and relaxometry parameters are the main indicators of interactions at muscle cell level. At these different scales, MRI has been widely used to improve nutritional properties of meat products by reducing fat and salt contents and to optimize processing, mainly cooking, and salting/drying.