Quality control of chicken meat through NIRS technology

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When consumers buy chicken meat, price, and quality are important to their decisions. However, an increasing number of consumers are also considering the health implications associated with their consumption.

This demand has led to a greater need to ensure quality in production. New quality control methods are required to meet this demand since traditional analysis methods are lengthy, require toxic solvents and reagents, and can be expensive.

For these reasons, developing rapid, environmentally friendly, and noninvasive methods for meat quality prediction or authentication of value-added meat products has become a priority in recent years.

In this sense, near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) could be considered a fast and cost-effective alternative.

Although NIRS is known as a new technology, it was discovered in the 1800s when Herschel found that the scattering of electromagnetic waves beyond the visible range of the spectrum could be observed by using an array of blackened bulb thermometers. However, it was not until the 1960s that significant developments in NIRS technology occurred.

Figure 1: Classification of rays according to their wavelength

Near-infrared spectroscopy measures the absorption of electromagnetic radiation, including wavelengths from 750 to 2,500 nm.

The absorptions measured by NIRS correspond mainly to overtones and combinations of vibrational modes involving C-H, O-H, and N-H chemical bonds.

The electromagnetic radiation absorbed from these molecular bonds at NIRS wavelengths produces spectra unique to a sample acting as a “fingerprint.”

Advantages and limitations of NIRS technology

Among the advantages of the application of NIRS technology concerning traditional methods of