Application of biospeckle laser technique for determining biological phenomena related to beef aging

Among the features of beef quality, color is a major factor that influences marketing since it is the only characteristic consumers can see at the time of purchase, although tenderness is the organoleptic trait that most affects consumer acceptance of beef. Thus, an effective technology to predict meat quality is highly desirable for the meat industry. Among many emerging technologies, optical methods have the greatest potential since they are fast, nondestructive, and generally low cost. This study evaluated the potential application of laser biospeckle technique and its methods of image processing in order to assess and quantify biological phenomena related to beef aging. Samples of muscle Longissimus thoracis were aged for 21 days and underwent biospeckle analysis, objective color and Warner-Bratzler Shear Force (WBSF). According to the results, biospeckle laser parameters may, possibly, assess biological activity resulting from action of endogenous enzymes (calpains and cathepsins) responsible for the aging process through its correlation (R = 0.6146) with analysis of WBSF and of the correlation (−0.7973) with aging time. High correlation of biospeckle analysis, related to traditional out puts and to new proposals, were obtained to color parameters, especially hue angle (h*) whose R value was 0.7953, redness intensity (R = 0.8120) and percentage of metmyoglobin (MMb) showed that R value of 0.9119, demonstrates the potential of this technique for evaluating quality of meat color.