Recent advances in muscle food safety evaluation: Hyperspectral imaging analyses and applications

Abstract

As there is growing interest in process control for quality and safety in the meat industry, by integrating spectroscopy and imaging technologies into one system, hyperspectral imaging, or chemical or spectroscopic imaging has become an alternative analytical technique that can provide the spatial distribution of spectrum for fast and nondestructive detection of meat safety. This review addresses the configuration of the hyperspectral imaging system and safety indicators of muscle foods involving biological, chemical, and physical attributes and other associated hazards or poisons, which could cause safety problems. The emphasis focuses on applications of hyperspectral imaging techniques in the safety evaluation of muscle foods, including pork, beef, lamb, chicken, fish and other meat products. Although HSI can provide the spatial distribution of spectrum, characterized by overtones and combinations of the C–H, N–H, and O–H groups using different combinations of a light source, imaging spectrograph and camera, there still needs improvement to overcome the disadvantages of HSI technology for further applications at the industrial level.

Keywords:

• Hyperspectral imaging
• food safety assurance
• muscle foods
• microbial contamination
• chemical indicators
• physical indicators

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation (2022A1515012489) for its support. This research was also supported by the Guangzhou Key Laboratory for Intelligent Sensing and Quality Control of Agricultural Products (202102100009), Laboratory of Lingnan Modern Agriculture Project (NZ2021035), the Guangdong Provincial Science and Technology Plan Projects (2020A1414010160), the Contemporary International Collaborative Research Centre of Guangdong Province on Food Innovative Processing and Intelligent Control (2019A050519001), and the Common Technical Innovation Team of Guangdong Province on Preservation and Logistics of Agricultural Products (2022KJ101).