Near-infrared oximetry of three post-rigor skeletal muscles for following myoglobin redox forms

• Published in: Food chemistry 2010-11, Vol.123 (2), p.456-464
• Main Authors: Mohan, Anand, Hunt, Melvin C., Barstow, Thomas J., Houser, Terry A., Hueber, Dennis M.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Biological and medical sciences; color; equipment performance; Food industries; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; General aspects; Handling, storage, packaging, transport; Meat and meat product industries; Meat colour; meat quality; Modified atmosphere packaging; myoglobin; Myoglobin redox forms; near-infrared oximetry; near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy; Near-infrared tissue oximeter; redox reactions; Reflectance spectroscopy; rigor mortis; skeletal muscle; tissue analysis
• ISSN: 0308-8146; 1873-7072
• DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2010.04.068

We investigated the response of frequency-domain multidistance (FDMD) near-infrared (NIR) tissue oximetry for detecting absolute amounts of myoglobin (Mb) redox forms and their relationship to meat colour stability. Four packaging formats were used to create different blends of Mb redox forms and meat colours during display. Changes in surface colour and subsurface pigment forms during simulated display time (0, 2, 4, and 10 d at 2 °C) were evaluated using surface reflecto-spectrophotometry (both L∗ a∗ b∗ and specific wavelengths) and FDMD NIR tissue oximetry. Data for both methods of direct measurement of oxymyoglobin and deoxymyoglobin were strongly related and accounted for 86–94% of the display variation in meat colour. Indirect estimates of metmyoglobin ranged from r 2 = 59–85%. It appears that NIR tissue oximetry has potential as a noninvasive, rapid method for the assessment of meat colour traits and may help improve our understanding of meat colour chemistry in post-rigor skeletal muscle.