POSSIBILITIES OF SPECTROSCOPIC METHODS IN MEAT QUALITY ANALYSIS

The aim of the study is to review the possibilities of using spectroscopic methods to assess the quality and composition of meat, to determine their advantages and disadvantages, as well as the prospects for further use in meat industry enterprises. The problems of meat quality assessment are relevant and attract the attention of both producers and consumers. Traditional methods, such as organoleptic, physicochemical, biochemical and microbiological, are labor-intensive and destructive. Therefore, the search for fast, non-destructive and accurate control methods, which include spectroscopy, is especially important. The most common is near infrared spectroscopy, which has a large penetration depth and moderate sensitivity and allows you to obtain information about the chemical composition and physical properties of samples. Less common is Raman spectroscopy, which has become popular with the development of modern laser spectroscopes. The use of terahertz spectroscopy is limited by the content of a large amount of water in meat, which absorbs radiation. The use of fluorescence spectroscopy is limited by the presence of intrinsic fluorophores in the analyzed samples, and the analysis result depends on the location of measurement. Impedance spectroscopy analyzes electrical properties and is applicable to studies of meat during maturation and freeze-thaw processes. Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy provides data on the “chemical fingerprint” of samples and metabolic changes that have occurred in meat during storage and processing, while electron paramagnetic resonance is effective for determining the oxidative/antioxidant status. Despite their shortcomings, the spectroscopic methods presented in the paper have great potential for use directly in production, including online.