Freshness is not only an important factor affecting fresh meat quality classification, but also directly determines the shelf life of products. Therefore, it is important to construct a fresh meat freshness characterization system. However, the traditional methods are complicated to operate and time-consuming, so that they cannot give results rapidly and therefore cannot meet the current needs. Therefore, a fast and accurate technology for fresh meat freshness characterization is always urgently needed for the meat industry and is a research hotspot in academia. This paper summarizes the new technologies available for the determination of the freshness of fresh meat, including sensory bionics, intelligent response and spectrum analysis. It emphasizes on reviewing the advantages and disadvantages of these technologies and discusses future breakthrough directions. Lastly, this review is wrapped up with an outlook on future trends in this field, in order to provide a reference for further research.

Based on the highly positive correlation between chilled chicken freshness and the number of Pseudomonas, this study established a loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) method for rapid detection of Pseudomonas for the purpose of freshness detection. The results showed that the established LAMP system had high specificity for Pseudomonas, and the highest sensitivity was 3.05 × 10² CFU/mL. According to the measured values of Pseudomonas count, total bacterial count, total volatile basic nitrogen (TVB-N) content, pH, sensory properties of chilled chicken during storage, it was found that the total bacterial count and odor properties were the most accurate indicators of freshness, and the correlation between Pseudomonas count and them was the strongest. Pseudomonas count in the early stage of spoilage could be accurately identified by LAMP, and based on it the freshness of chilled chicken could be inferred. The method established in this study is time-saving, flexible, and applicable to a variety of scenarios, and it deserves to be popularized.