ELSEVIER Meat Science, Vol. 45, No. 3, 353-363, 1997 0 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd All rights reserved. Printed in Great Britain PII: so309-1740(96)00127-1 0309-1740/ 97 %17.00+0.00 Discrimination between Fresh and Frozen-then-thawed Beef m. hgissimus dorsi by Combined Visible-near Infrared Reflectance Spectroscopy: A Feasibility Study Gerard Downeya* & Dominique BeauchCneb “Teagasc, The National Food Centre, Dunsinea, Castleknock, Dublin 15, Republic of Ireland bUniversite de Nantes, rue de la Houssiniere, 44072 Nantes, France (Received 13 April 1996; revised version received 18 October 1996; accepted 1 November 1996) ABSTRACT zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSR Investigations into the classification of meat samples as either fresh or frozen-then-thawed have been performed using near infrared spectroscopy and two chemometric techniques: factorial discriminant analysis and SMCA. W ork was performed on meat pieces using afibre optic probe for spectral acquisition. A sample of meat (m. longissimus dorsi) from each of 32 animals of a single species (female Hereford-cross) was collected from a commercial abattoir. Using a standard freeze-thaw regime, results reported show a significant rate of discrimination between fresh and frozen- then- thaw ed beef for the factorial discriminant procedure; SIMCA was less successful. 0 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd All rights reserved INTRODUCTION Meat is a high-value item in the human diet which is greatly prized by the consumer. While traditionally eaten in dishes prepared domestically, meat is increasingly consumed as part of ready-to-eat products of the food-processing industry. As a result of its high value, the opportunity presents itself for the fraudulent replacement of premium quality material by grades which are inferior. This type of problem is widespread throughout the food processing industry and affects both the processor and consumer alike. In the case of the latter, anything which is other than what it purports to be is a consumer fraud and carries with it a number of legal sanctions. With respect to the food processor, the inadvertent use of inferior material is unsatisfactory from a quality perspective and carries with it the risk of loss of market share, while the fraudulent use of such material by unscrupulous traders represents a distortion of the market-place and unfair competition. Regulatory authorities and food companies are, therefore, increasingly vigilant with regard to the authenticity of foodstuffs. *Author to whom correspondence should be addressed [Tel.: (01) 838 3222; Fax: (01) 838 3684; E-mail: g.downey@nfc.teagasc.ie]. 353