Recent advances in meat freshness "magnifier": fluorescence sensing

Area of Science:

• Food Science and Technology
• Analytical Chemistry
• Biotechnology

Background:

• Meat spoilage, driven by microbial and enzymatic activity, leads to significant resource waste and food safety concerns.
• Current meat freshness monitoring methods are often costly, time-consuming, or lack efficiency.
• A need exists for rapid, cost-effective, and high-efficiency methods to assess meat freshness.

Purpose of the Study:

• To comprehensively analyze the magnification mechanism of meat freshness using fluorescence sensing.
• To review existing fluorescence sensing platforms for meat freshness monitoring.
• To provide future research directions for developing advanced meat freshness monitoring strategies.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of fluorescence sensing mechanisms for key meat spoilage indicators: water activity, adenosine triphosphate (ATP), hydrogen ion (pH), total volatile basic nitrogen (TVBN), hydrogen sulfide (H2S), and bioamines.
• Review of various fluorescence sensing 'magnifier' formats, including paper chips, films, labels, arrays, probes, and hydrogels.
• Examination of the application of these methods in monitoring the freshness of livestock, poultry, and aquatic meats.

Main Results:

• Fluorescence sensing effectively magnifies characteristic signals associated with meat spoilage.
• Diverse sensing platforms (paper chips, films, labels, etc.) have been developed and applied to various meat types.
• Key spoilage markers like ATP, TVBN, and pH can be effectively monitored using fluorescence techniques.

Conclusions:

• Fluorescence sensing presents a promising, low-cost, and efficient technology for real-time meat freshness monitoring.
• Further innovation in sensing principles, visualization, and quantification is needed for broader application across different meats.
• Developing reliable meat freshness monitoring strategies is critical for food safety and waste reduction in the post-epidemic era.