Visualize the quality of frozen fish using fluorescence imaging aided with excitation-emission matrix

The quality monitoring of frozen marine products has become essential in the fishery industry, where efficient and effective quality assurance is becoming increasingly important. In this study, we proposed a novel method of evaluating fish quality by combining the fluorescence excitation-emission matrix (EEM) with imaging techniques to visualize the spatial-temporal changes of freshness indices such as K-value and taste component IMP content. The result showed that the distribution of K-value and IMP content could be visualized with accuracy of R² = 0.78 and R² = 0.83, respectively. Furthermore, this innovative approach was applied to differentiate burnt meat, which is a type of abnormal meat found in many types of fish, and it was found that burnt meat could be detected even when in a frozen condition.