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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, August 2003, p. 4697-4705, Vol. 69, No. 8
0099-2240/03/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/AEM.69.8.4697-4705.2003
Copyright © 2003, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Rapid Detection of Meat Spoilage by Measuring Volatile Organic Compounds by Using Proton Transfer Reaction Mass Spectrometry

D. Mayr,1 R. Margesin,2 E. Klingsbichel,3 E. Hartungen,1 D. Jenewein,3 F. Schinner,2 and T. D. Märk1,4*

Institute of Ion Physics,1 Institute of Microbiology, University of Innsbruck,2 Österreichische Agentur für Gesundheit und Ernährungssicherheit, Lebensmitteluntersuchung Innsbruck, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria,3 Department of Plasmaphysics, Comenius University, 84248 Bratislava, Slovak Republic4

Received 17 January 2003/ Accepted 6 June 2003

The evolution of the microbial spoilage population for air- and vacuum-packaged meat (beef and pork) stored at 4°C was investigated over 11 days. We monitored the viable counts (mesophilic total aerobic bacteria, Pseudomonas spp., Enterobacteriaceae, lactic acid bacteria, and Enterococcus spp.) by the microbiological standard technique and by measuring the emission of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) with the recently developed proton transfer reaction mass spectrometry system. Storage time, packaging type, and meat type had statistically significant (P < 0.05) effects on the development of the bacterial numbers. The concentrations of many of the measured VOCs, e.g., sulfur compounds, largely increased over the storage time. We also observed a large difference in the emissions between vacuum- and air-packaged meat. We found statistically significant strong correlations (up to 99%) between some of the VOCs and the bacterial contamination. The concentrations of these VOCs increased linearly with the bacterial numbers. This study is a first step toward replacing the time-consuming plate counting by fast headspace air measurements, where the bacterial spoilage can be determined within minutes instead of days.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Institute of Ion Physics, University of Innsbruck, Technikerstr. 25, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria. Phone: 43 512 507 6240. Fax: 43 512 507 2932. E-mail: Tilmann.Maerk{at}uibk.ac.at.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, August 2003, p. 4697-4705, Vol. 69, No. 8
0099-2240/03/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/AEM.69.8.4697-4705.2003
Copyright © 2003, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Ercolini, D., Russo, F., Nasi, A., Ferranti, P., Villani, F. (2009). Mesophilic and Psychrotrophic Bacteria from Meat and Their Spoilage Potential In Vitro and in Beef. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 75: 1990-2001 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Bunge, M., Araghipour, N., Mikoviny, T., Dunkl, J., Schnitzhofer, R., Hansel, A., Schinner, F., Wisthaler, A., Margesin, R., Mark, T. D. (2008). On-Line Monitoring of Microbial Volatile Metabolites by Proton Transfer Reaction-Mass Spectrometry. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 74: 2179-2186 [Abstract] [Full Text]  


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