Major Causes Of Meat Spoilage and Preservation Techniques: A Review

Meat is a nutritious, protein-rich food which is highly perishable and has a short shelf-life unless preservation methods are used. The objective of this paper is to review the mechanisms of meat spoilage and preservation techniques. Pre slaughter handling of livestock and post slaughter handling of meat play an important part in deterioration of meat quality. Some of the pre slaughter handling that influence the spoilage of meat includes; nutrition, transportation, marketing, lairaging and stunning. The main causes of meat and meat products spoilage after slaughtering and during processing and storage are; microorganisms, lipid oxidation and autolytic enzymatic spoilage. Meat preservation became necessary for transporting meat for long distances without spoiling of texture, colour and nutritional value after the development and rapid growth of super markets. Traditional methods of meat preservation includes; drying, smoking, brining and canning. Current meat preservation methods include, controlling temperature by chilling, freezing and super chilling, controlling water activity with sodium chloride and sugars, and use of different chemicals such as chlorides, nitrites, sulfides, organic acids, phenolic antoxidant and phosphates to control growth of microorganisms to prevent oxidative spoilage and to control autolytic enzymatic spoilage. Key words: Meat, Spoilage, Preservatio