Meat and meat products play an important role in the daily dietary structure, which provide humans with high-quality protein, vitamins, minerals and other nutrients. With consumers’ pursuit of natural preservatives, natural plant polyphenols have become one of the latest research hotspots in the field of meat science due to their unique antibacterial and antioxidant effects. This review summarizes the development of new natural plant polyphenol extracts in recent years and their mechanism against the spoilage of meat and meat products, and it outlines the application of polyphenols in the preservation of fresh meat and meat products from the perspectives of their antioxidant and antibacterial activity. Moreover, the effective measures to improve the stability of polyphenols are introduced from the aspects of physics, chemistry and processing technology. This review aims to provide theoretical guidance for widening the application of plant polyphenols in the meat industry and for the development of their green manufacturing technology.

This study was undertaken in order to investigate the combined effect of high-CO₂ modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) and superchilling storage on the quality and shelf-life of beef during aging and display. The changes in quality characteristics and microbial load of bovine longissimus dorsi muscle during storage at 4 or −1.5 ℃ under different packaging conditions, 80% CO₂ MAP and vacuum packaging (VP). The results showed that 80% CO₂ MAP significantly improved blooming development and tenderness during aging (P < 0.05), and enhanced the redness value during display when combined with superchilling storage (P < 0.05). The combination of 80% CO₂ MAP and superchilling also significantly reduced the total viable count (TVC) and total volatile basic nitrogen (TVB-N) content during both aging and display (P < 0.05). Therefore, this combination not only improved the tenderness and blooming ability of beef during aging, but also extended the shelf-life of beef.

Red meat cut up or stored in anaerobic packaging needs to be bloomed before being displayed, which makes the meat turn from dark purple to attractive, bright red. This is important for stimulating consumer purchase intention. However, there have been few systematic reviews of the mechanism and application of meat blooming. This article summarizes the state-of-the-art progress in understanding the formation and stability of meat color, and reviews the blooming properties and evaluation methods of fresh meat from different parts of different animal species. It also elucidates the internal (e.g., mitochondrial function, ultimate pH, and protein modification) and external (e.g., temperature, aging method, and pre-blooming treatment) factors impacting the blooming of red meat, as well as the related regulatory mechanisms. It is hoped that this review will provide a theoretical basis and technical guidance for the targeted improvement of blooming efficiency in different types of red meat in practice.

To address the problem of serious microbial spoilage of dark-cutting (DC) beef, this study investigated the changes in the sensory quality, microbial growth, and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) contents of DC beef during storage under mother packaging (MP) consisting of 80% CO₂ and 20% N₂ or 40% CO₂ and 60% N₂, or vacuum packaging (VP) at chilled (4 ℃ ) or superchilled (-1.5 ℃ ) temperature and subsequent display under high-oxygen modified atmosphere packaging (HiOx-MAP) consisting of 60% O₂ and 40% CO₂ at 4 ℃ . The results showed that during superchilled storage, MP significantly inhibited bacterial growth, reduced the contents of certain VOCs (such as hexanal and 1-octen-3-ol), and thus maintained better odor freshness compared to VP; MP with 80% CO₂ concentration showed higher antibacterial effect, and it significantly reduced the concentration of 3-methyl-1-butanol in displayed DC beef steaks while promoting the formation of some VOCs such as diacetyl and hexanal. After storage under high-CO₂ MP, an off-odor was formed, but it disappeared at 15 min after opening the packaging, which did not cause any adverse effects on the freshness. Both CO₂ concentration and VP affected the change of the microbial community during storage. For all packaging treatments, Carnobacterium was the dominant bacteria after display under HiOx-MAP. The growth of Carnobacterium, Serratia and Leuconostoc may be the main cause of off-odor development in DC steaks throughout the storage and display periods. This study recommends the use of storage with 80% CO₂ MP at superchilled temperature and subsequent display under HiOx-MAP to extend the shelflife of DC beef and inhibit spoilage odor due to microbial growth.

Pseudomonas fragi is a predominant meat-borne spoilage bacterium that is sensitive to CO₂ under high-oxygen modified atmosphere packaging (HiOx-MAP). This study was designed to reveal the spoilage potential of a popular wild-type P. fragi T1 in HiOx-MAP beef by whole genome sequencing, and explore the bacterial metabolic response to CO₂ utilizing combined metabolomic and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) analysis, under treatment (CO₂-enriched) HiOx-MAP (TMAP, 50% O₂/40% CO₂/10% N₂) or control (non-CO₂) HiOx-MAP (CMAP, 50% O₂/50% N₂) during chilled storage. Results showed that the strain P. fragi T1 was endued with spoilage-related genes associated with protease, lipase and esterase production, amino acid metabolism, carbon metabolism, sulfur metabolism, and putrescine metabolism, which was responsible for the hydrolysis of meat protein and lipid, as well as off-odor formation. The growth of P. fragi under CMAP resulted in the production of VOCs, such as diacetyl, 1-undecene, 2-undecanone, nonanal, (Z)-5-decen-1-ol, and (E)-2-octenal, etc. The TMAP declined above VOCs concentrations significantly (P < 0.05) by inhibiting P. fragi growth and regulating its metabolic activities. The metabolomic analysis further manifested that CO₂ inhibited the P. fragi growth by decreasing cell membrane fluidity, disturbing energy metabolism, and inhibiting amino acid metabolism and nucleotide biosynthesis. This work provides valuable information for understanding the P. fragi-induced meat spoilage phenomena, and the antibacterial mechanism of CO₂ against P. fragi.