Gas discharge visualization as a promising tool for meat analysis during its storage

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Recently a lot of analytical methods have been developed, however, only a few of them have found application in the meat industry, since they do not provide sufficient understanding of the processes that occur in meat during its storage. The use of the GDV method for analyzing the food products quality has got a number of advantages, since it allows for quick and non-invasive getting of information on the food product condition, which capability may be quite promising for meat analysis. The study described in this paper is based on the GDV method application for analyzing the condition of the chilled pork at various stages of its storage and for detecting the peculiar changes in its quality.The study analyzed samples of Sus scrofa m. longissimus dorsi stored at a temperature of 0 to 4 °C for five days. Using the software ImageJ to analyze the gas-discharge glow of meat, its main parameters were obtained, such as an area, average radius of glow and color characteristics. The most significant characteristics of the gas-discharge glow were determined, among which the glow area, shape factor, uncertainty and dispersion were focused on. It was shown that synchronously with the development of rigor mortis, there was a decrease in the area of the gas-discharge glow, and with its resolution and further storage of meat — a noticeable increase. The dispersion of the radius of meat glow by the end of the storage period increased by 2.03 times in comparison with the original value, and the gas discharge was unstable and featured a large number of streamer branches.The influence of histostructural changes and fractional composition of proteins on the properties of the electromagnetic field during GDV of meat has been proven. It has been shown that the method of gas discharge visualization, along with histological studies, can be used to analyze meat during its storage and defining the depth of autolytic changes that take place in the meat.