Oxidative and enzymatic factors affecting meat spoilage

Among various food products, meat represents one of the most perishable commodities. This is partly due to its rich nutritional composition, high water content and favorable pH that make it a perfect medium for microbial growth coupled with its inherent chemical and enzymatic activities. Consequently, the mechanisms responsible for its deterioration have been identified as microbial growth, lipid and/or protein oxidation as well as enzymatic autolysis. Meat spoilage therefore occurs when metabolic processes and/or microbial activities change the physicochemical properties of meat to an unacceptable level for consumers or below limits set by regulatory agencies. These processes result in the deterioration of its odor, flavor, color, texture or nutritive value. To design effective strategies to mitigate or prevent spoilage of this highly perishable food product, it is important to understand their mechanisms. Because of deleterious changes associated with microbial, oxidation and enzymatic processes, much applied meat research focuses on these mechanisms. Given that the microbial impacts on meat spoilage have been discussed in the previous article, the present section only focuses on spoilage due to enzymatic and oxidative activities.