Application of Diode-Laser Raman Spectroscopy for In situ Investigation of Meat Spoilage

Abstract

Raman spectroscopy is well suited for noninvasive and non-destructive analysis. The spectra provide detailed information about the composition of the matter like a fingerprint on molecular level. Here, we have applied Raman spectroscopy for the characterization of meat spoilage. For this purpose, pork chops (musculus longissimus dorsi) were ice-stored at 5°C, and time-dependent Raman spectra were measured daily up to 3 weeks post mortem. A prototype Raman probe for meat was constructed featuring a miniaturized optical bench combined with a customized 671-nm microsystem diode laser for the integration into a handheld device. During the timedependent investigations with this laser scanner, the Raman spectra preserve their basic spectral features, but small changes of the protein Raman signals occur during storage. The time correlation of the complex spectra were analyzed with principal components analysis leading to a distinction of spectra on the time scale between day 8 and 10 typically. This corresponds to the transition from unspoiled meat to meat at and beyond the end of shelf life identified by means of visual inspection.

A Prototype Hand-Held Raman Sensor for the in situ Characterization of Meat Quality

“…The Raman measurements of the same meat samples without packaging revealed the same result, 6,23 i.e., a separation of the spectra in the PCA at day 10. The two data sets of packaged meat and unpacked meat were processed separately because of the Raman signals of the packaging material.…”

Recent Applications of Spectroscopic and Hyperspectral Imaging Techniques with Chemometric Analysis for Rapid Inspection of Microbial Spoilage in Muscle Foods

“…Raman spectroscopy focuses on the polarizability response of molecular vibrations (Scotter ) and is also one of the vibrational spectroscopies based upon the interaction of laser radiation with molecular vibrations in order to obtain relative information about the material (Celedon and Aguilera ; Sowoidnich and others ). One major advantage of this technique is its ability to provide information about concentration, structure, and interaction of biochemical molecules within intact cells and tissues (Marquardt and Wold ).…”

Photoacoustic characterization of wheat bread mixed with Moringa oleifera.

“…In general, it should be noted that, several spectroscopic techniques have been applied for food analysis as Raman, Nuclear magnetic resonance, Fluorescence, atomic absorption spectroscopy, Near infrared, visible/infrared, and UV/VIS ( Pojić and Mastilović, 2013 ; Karoui and Blecker, 2011 ; Pankaj et al, 2018 ). These techniques have been applied to characterize pesticides, fumonisins, differentiation of grains, coffee, oils, minerals, adulterations of wines and spices, fermentations and bioactive elements of food and plants ( Sowoidnich et al, 2010 ; Lee and Herrman, 2016 ; Pojić and Mastilović, 2013 ; Foca et al, 2011 ; Lu et al, 2011 ; Aleixandre-Tudo et al, 2017 ; Hernández et al , 2019a ; 2020a ; Bolarinwa et al, 2019 ).…”