Development of a Dye-Based Device to Assess the Poultry Meat Spoilage. Part II: Array on Act

Abstract

This work presents a colorimetric dye-based array for naked-eye detection of chicken meat spoilage. The array is obtained by fixing five acid−base indicators, m-cresol purple (1), o-cresol red (2), bromothymol blue (3), thymol blue (4), and chlorophenol red (5), and a sensing molecule specific for thiols, 5,5′-dithiobis(2-nitrodibenzoic acid), called Ellman's reagent (6), on a cellulose-based support. The dyes, being permanently charged, are fixed on the support via ion-exchange. The entire degradation process of beast poultry meat, at ambient temperature and in a domestic fridge, is followed by the change of the color of the array, placed in the headspace over the meat samples. The device is set after selection of the most suitable starting form, which could be the acidic or the basic color of indicators, being the proper dye concentration and the dimension of the spots already established. Basing on sensors colors, we identified three levels of the degradation process of chicken meat, named SAFE, WARNING, and HAZARD. By instrumental analysis, we demonstrated that sensors response was correlated to volatile organic compounds (VOCs) composition in the headspace and, thus, to meat spoilage progress. We demonstrated that biogenic amines (BAs), commonly considered a critical spoilage marker, are indeed produced into the samples but never present in the headspace, even in traces, during the investigated time-lapse. The VOC evolution nevertheless allows one to assign the sample as WARNING and further HAZARD. Some indicators turned out to be more informative than others, and the best candidates for a future industrial application resulted in a bromothymol blue (3)-, chlorophenol red (5)-, and Ellman's reagent (6)-based array.

Role of Biogenic Amines in Protein Foods Sensing: Myths and Evidence

“…Nevertheless, a substantial difference can be observed between the samples analysed immediately (SAFE samples) and the ones after three-day storage (HAZARD samples) in the amount of BAs detected. Except for 2-phenylethylamine Adapted with permission from reference [5]. and tryptamine, the pick areas of amines almost double from SAFE samples to the HAZARD ones.…”

“…Nevertheless, more surprisingly, neither in the meat classified as HAZARD, when all the BAs were detected in large amount in the solid, see Table 1, amines were found in the headspace, confirming our previous assumption on this topic. [5][6] Deserve note the presence of indole, in the last samples belonging to the HAZARD stage, originated by bacteria degradation of tryptophan.…”

“…The array's performances were explored to develop an intelligent label to signal chicken, beef, pork, and fish spoilage. See reference [4][5][6]. The device will be described below, and two patents have been deposited to protect the idea.…”

“…[53][54] The meat samples were analysed by HPLC-ESI/MS analysis, while the headspace HSSPME/GC-MS analysis. Details of the experimental procedures and the analytical methods can be found in reference [5][6]. There are many papers where the composition of volatile substances [29][30][31][32] and the by-products developed inside the meat [27][28] are presented.…”

“…In recent decades, the interest in systems able to detect food degradation, giving a quick response, simple to be read, and suitable for implementation in control systems and smart labels has increased continuously. [1][2][3][4][5][6] This interest is more valid in foods such as meat and fish. Despite the spread of vegan and vegetarian diets, their consumption has been steadily increasing worldwide for decades, also caused by the dramatic economic development of Eastern Country of the last forty years.…”