Assessment of chicken breast shelf life based on bench-top and portable near-infrared spectroscopy tools coupled with chemometrics

Abstract Objectives Near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy is a rapid technique able to assess meat quality even if its capability determine the shelf life of chicken fresh cuts still debated, especially for portable devices. The aim study was compare bench-top and NIR instruments in discriminating between four breast refrigeration times (RT), coupled with multivariate classifier models. Materials Methods Ninety-six samples were analysed by both tools at 2, 6, 10 14 days post mortem. data subsequently submitted partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) canonical (CDA). latter preceded double feature selection based on Boruta Stepwise procedures. Results PLS-DA sorted moderate separation RT theses, while assessment more accurate application Stepwise-CDA. Bench-top tool had better performance than one, probably because it captured informative spectral as shown variable importance projection (VIP) restricted pool Stepwise-CDA predictive scores (SPS). Conclusions model provide deep insight into physicochemical processes occurring during storage. Spectroscopy showed reliable effectiveness recognise 7-day threshold breasts, suitable routine at-line screening quality.