ABSTRACT
This chapter presents an overview of approaches and the research in vibrational spectroscopic methods developed for evaluating the quality of several fish and meat products. It considers different analytical needs regarding fish and meat products namely, quantification of major constituents, quality assurance, and authentication issues. Significant efforts have been made to develop new quantitative methods for the rapid and accurate analysis of the major constituents of fish and meat, namely, water, fat, and protein by the application of spectroscopic methods. Several spectroscopic techniques have been evaluated as emerging technologies that could improve sensory quality determination of meat and fishery products in a nondestructive and expeditious manner. The most accepted way of describing freshness, particularly employed in fishery products, is a standardized sensory assessment method, that is, the quality index method. In modern food industries, there is actually a need for the development of new methods suitable for online and real-time detection of microbial spoilage in a rapid and nondestructive way.
