Emerging nondestructive techniques for the quality and safety evaluation of pork and beef: Recent advances, challenges, and future perspectives

•Literature was reviewed on the emerging non-destructive methods for pork and beef quality and safety evaluation.•Imaging and spectroscopic-based techniques showed strong potential in non-destructive quality monitoring of pork and beef.•Advances, methods of test, advantages, drawbacks and future challenges were discussed. Quality and safety evaluation play a significant role in the food industry since consumers are being more particular and alert in selecting their food items. Majority of the consumers prefer safer, healthier, and high-quality foods which underwent quality evaluation. Pork and beef quality and safety evaluation is highly critical for these meat products are the main source of protein in various countries worldwide. To address this demand, non-invasive techniques in pork and beef quality and safety monitoring is a trend for studies these days. Hence, the current review seeks to provide a brief overview of the recent non-destructive emerging technologies used in the quality and safety monitoring of pork and beef such as image-based, spectroscopic-based, and electronic nose applications. The literature presented on this review demonstrates that the techniques were mostly developed for laboratory use. There is a lack of evidence regarding their feasibility on an industrial level. The need to bridge the gap between laboratory and industrial use can be addressed by creating models that will utilize both image and spectroscopic techniques in conjunction with data processing tools. It was concluded that Hyperspectral Imaging (HSI), and Visible/Near Infrared Spectroscopy (Vis/NIRS) are the leading techniques for pork and beef quality and safety monitoring. The studies that utilize these techniques have obtained higher accuracy levels and remarkable findings compared to other approaches of evaluation. Furthermore, the measurement methods applied, major components of the system, different chemometric analysis applied to the many quality indices under consideration as well as the challenges and future perspective for the above-mentioned methods for pork and beef evaluation are also provided in this review.