Applications of NMR in meat science

This review presents the status of NMR applications in meat science. The potential and relevance of relaxation, imaging, and spectroscopic methodologies are covered within the different topics of importance for meat science and related muscle biology. The most widely explored area of NMR in meat science is H-1 relaxometry. The use of relaxometry has been highly successful due to its potential in characterising water and structural features in heterogeneous systems like muscle/meat. Focus is especially given to the area of determining water-holding capacity (WHC) and other meat quality traits controlled by water distribution and mobility together with dynamic studies of physical changes during conversion of muscle to meat. Moreover, the elucidation of the observed relaxation characteristics in muscle and meat is discussed. NMR imaging studies have mostly been applied in the elucidation of structural changes and brine dynamic during processing of meat, i.e., freezing, curing and high pressure treatment, which are reviewed and put into perspective in relation to applications together with a description of the potential of the method in the authentication of fresh meat. Within NMR spectroscopy, studies on the P-31 nucleus have been dominating, and P-31 NMR spectroscopy has been applied to investigate the effect of genetic, feeding, and slaughter factors on meat quality through their action on phosphorous metabolism post mortem, and these studies are considered and discussed in relation to their contribution to fundamental meat science. Finally, the present applications and potentials of H-1 NMR and C-13 NMR spectroscopy within meat science are considered together with the related technical problems using these methodologies.