A review of near infrared spectroscopy in muscle food analysis: 2005-2010

Muscle foods (meat and fish) are very important from the perspective of human nutrition and economic activity, both nationally and internationally. At a research and development level, major efforts continue to be focussed on improving the quantity and quality of raw and processed muscle food types available on the market and also to monitor their compliance with compositional, safety and, increasingly, provenance issues. Publications dealing with the development of near infrared (NIP) applications for the analysis of muscle foods (meat and fish) over the period 2005-2010 have been assembled and reviewed. Well-described advantages of NIR spectroscopy suit the food processing industry in terms of operating speed and possible implementation of in-line, on-line or at-line process monitoring; it also has the ability to meet consumer expectations in terms of product quality and safety assurance. These advantages allow food processors to easily monitor and manipulate processing conditions to avoid the production and release of defective products, thereby guaranteeing product quality and enhancing the possibility of repeat purchasing by customers. For public regulatory organisations which have responsibilities to both food producers and consumers, NIR technology may be able to contribute efficiently to these aims. Interrogation of NIR datasets by increasingly powerful and sophisticated chemometric techniques continues to improve calibration robustness and accuracy while the appearance of extensive suites of algorithms in commercially-available software packages helps in their deployment. The aim of this review is to provide an update on work in these areas which has been published in the period from 2005 to 2010. While targeted chiefly at researchers active in the field, it should also be of relevance to technical personnel in the meat and fish industries and to regulatory personnel.