Assessment of meat using biochemical characteristics Investigations on biochemical changes in pork chop during storage

The aim of the investigations was to determine biochemical changes in pork chop (M. longissimus dorsi) during storage by classical analytical methods and to correlate the gathered data to fluorescence spectroscopic and laser optical parameters elaborated by the other project partners. A clear dependency of lightness, colour as well as bacterial count upon the type of packaging could be found. In the same way significant dependencies were determined between the storage time of the meat sample and the bacterial count as well as the content of biogenic amines. However, the applied classical analytical methods are time and material consuming with respect to sample preparation. A close correlation between spectral-optical properties of a product and classical biochemical and microbiological characteristics enables the online determination of meat quality along the food chain. Finally, fast and non invasive methods based on fluorescence- and laser-spectroscopy are intended to be applied on all foodstuffs.