Fluorescence spectroscopy for accurate and rapid prediction of meat composition

The potential of fluorescence spectroscopy was assessed to study cow, goat, sheep and yak meat. Meat samples were taken from muscles, viz. Gluteus medius (GM), Longissimus dorsi (LD) and Semitendinosus (ST). The moisture, fat and protein content of meat samples were measured. The emission fluorescence spectra of tryptophan (305-500 nm), riboflavin (410-700 nm) and vitamin A (340-540) were recorded directly on meat samples at 290, 382 and 322 nm, respectively. Principal component analysis (PCA), partial least squares regression (PLSR) and partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLSDA) were applied to process the spectra obtained. Moisture content with R-2=0.94, protein content with R-2=0.86, and fat content with R-2=0.91 were predicted from the fluorescence emission spectra. The PLSDA applied at 410-700 nm fluorescence spectra showed 100, 100, 94.4 and 92.6% of discrimination for cow, goat, sheep and yak meat, respectively. This study demonstrates that fluorescence spectroscopy has a potential for the accurate, non-destructive and rapid prediction of meat composition and it could replace existing traditional analytical methods.