Intense light pulses (ILP) are an emerging processing technology, which has a
potential to decontaminate food products. The light generated by ILP lamps
consists of a continuum broadband spectrum from deep UV to the infrared,
especially rich in UV range below 400 nm, which is germicidal. Evaluation of
the effect of intense light pulses (ILP) on sensory quality of meat, game and
poultry was performed using two kinds of red meat (beef and pork), two kinds
of poultry (chicken and turkey) and three game meat samples (deer, rabbit and
kangaroo). All the samples were treated with 1 and 5 light pulses (pulse
duration of 300 ?s and pulse intensity of 3.4 J/cm2) at a rate of one pulse
per 2 seconds. Sensory quality changes induced by intense light pulses were
different and depended on animal species, type of meat and ILP dose applied.
Only the odour of all the meat, poultry and game samples suffered significant
changes after the pulsed light treatment. Of all kinds of meat investigated
only turkey received scores below the good quality grade after the treatment.
Instrumental colour values remained unaffected in chicken and rabbit meat
samples while higher doses of ILP significantly compromised both redness and
yellowness only in pork and turkey meat.