Temperature fluctuation during cold storage of meat products usually leads to undesirable microbial growths,
which affect the overall product quality. In this study, a pushbroom hyper spectral imaging system in the
near-infrared (NIR) range (900–1700 nm) as a rapid and non-destructive technique was exploited for determining
the total viable count (TVC) and psychrotrophic plate count (PPC) in chilled pork during storage. Fresh pork
samples from the longissimus dorsi muscle were obtained directly from a commercial slaughtering plant, and
stored in the refrigerated temperatures at 0 °C and 4 °C for 21 days. Every 48 h, a NIR hyperspectral image in
the reflectance mode was acquired directly for each sample. The TVC and PPC were determined simultaneously
by classicalmicrobiological platingmethods andmultivariate statisticalmodels for predicting contamination and
spoilage conditions in the samples were then developed. Partial least squares regression (PLS) was applied to fit
the spectral information extracted from the samples to the logarithmic values of TVC and PPC. The best regressionswere
obtainedwith R2 of 0.86 and 0.89 for log (TVC) and log (PPC), respectively. The most importantwavelengths
were then selected for regression and for spatial visualization of contamination. Results are encouraging
and showthe promising potential of hyperspectral technology for detecting bacterial spoilage in pork and tracking
the increase of microbial growth of chilled pork during storage at different temperatures.
Industrial relevance: A novel method based on hyperspectral imaging technique has been successfully developed
for determining the total viable count (TVC) and psychrotrophic plate count (PPC) in chilled pork during storage
non-destructively for the meat industry.