The use of NMR spectroscopy in analyses of selected characteristics of meat products

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is a non-destructive and non-invasive analytical chemical technique that is also increasingly used in food chemistry. The method allows specification of a broad group of components in foodstuffs characterised by a simple or complex form of matrix, as in meat and meat products. While NMR studies on fresh meat are numerous, NMR studies on meat products are less common and have focused mostly on relaxometric measurements of water mobility and determination of fatty acid chain composition by high-resolution 1H NMR spectroscopy. The results presented in this article represent an original approach in analyses of fermented meat products. Fourier transform nuclear magnetic resonance (FT NMR) for determination of free amino acids and carnosine content applied in this work has been used for the first time, and has proven suitable for the analysis of fermented sausages.