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A novel colorimetric sensor array for real-time and on-site monitoring of meat freshness

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Abstract

Food quality control is essential in industry and daily life. In this work, we developed a novel colorimetric sensor array composed of several pH-sensitive dyes for monitoring meat freshness. A color change in the sensor array was seen after exposure to volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and the images were captured for precise quantification of the VOCs. In conjunction with pattern recognition, meat freshness at different storage periods was readily discerned, revealing that the as-fabricated colorimetric sensor array possessed excellent discrimination ability. The linear range for quantitative analysis of volatiles related to meat spoilage was from 5 ppm to 100 ppm, with a limit of detection at the ppb level (S/N = 3). Furthermore, the testing results obtained by the sensor in assessing meat freshness were validated by a standard method for measuring the total volatile basic nitrogen (TVB-N). The sensing signals showed good agreement with the results obtained in TVB-N when measuring real food samples. The sensor also displayed good reproducibility (RSD < 5%) and long-term stability. The sensor was successfully used for on-site and real-time determination of volatiles emitted from rotting meat, demonstrating its potential application in monitoring the quality and safety of meat products.

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Acknowledgments

This work was financially supported by the Key Program of the Natural Science Foundation of Shenzhen (JCYJ20200109113410174), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81973280, 82173778), and Shenzhen Science and Technology Program (KQTD20170810105439418).

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Author notes

  1. Wengui Nie and Yifei Chen contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Xinjiang Phytomedicine Resources for Ministry of Education, School of Pharmacy, Shihezi University, Shihezi, 832000, China

    Wengui Nie, Yifei Chen & Hua Zhang

  2. Shenzhen ENCO Instrument Co., Ltd, Shenzhen, 518000, China

    Jinsen Liu

  3. School of Physics and Optoelectronic Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, 518060, China

    Zhengchun Peng & Yingchun Li

  4. Flexible Printed Electronics Technology Center and School of Science, Harbin Institute of Technology, Shenzhen, 518055, China

    Yingchun Li

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  1. Wengui Nie
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  2. Yifei Chen
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  3. Hua Zhang
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  4. Jinsen Liu
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  5. Zhengchun Peng
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Contributions

Wengui Nie: Methodology, Formal analysis, Resources, Writing—original draft, Writing—review & editing. Yifei Chen: Formal analysis, Data curation, Methodology. Hua Zhang: Conceptualization, Methodology. Jinsen Liu: Software, Visualization. Zhengchun Peng: Validation, Supervision, Project administration, Writing—review & editing. Yingchun Li: Conceptualization, Validation, Investigation, Writing—review & editing, Funding acquisition.

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Correspondence to Zhengchun Peng or Yingchun Li.

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Nie, W., Chen, Y., Zhang, H. et al. A novel colorimetric sensor array for real-time and on-site monitoring of meat freshness. Anal Bioanal Chem 414, 6017–6027 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-022-04176-3

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