ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the most recent and relevant achievements in the development of analytical methods for chemical and biological contamination monitoring in meat samples. The contribution will start from the critical discussion of consolidated sensing platforms, and then widen to the new trends and advances achieved by nanotechnology integration. The development of nanoscale materials such as nanowires (NWs), nanofibers, NPs, nanobelts or nanorods (NRs), and nanotubes (NTs) has dramatically changed clinical and molecular biology thanks to their significant use as bioanalyzers. Among the various phenomena exploited for optical detection, fluorescence, chemiluminescence and absorbance measurements by optical fibers or microarray configurations, and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy represent the most well-established approaches for meat contamination monitoring. Quantitative interpretation of FTIR spectra was possible using partial least squares (PLSs) regression, which provided accurate estimates of bacterial loads calculated directly from the meat surface in 60 s.
