Trends in Food Science & Technology 119 (2022) 133–151

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Trends in Food Science & Technology

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/tifs

Ensuring the quality of meat in cold chain logistics: A

comprehensive review
Qing-Shan Ren a, b, c, d, Kui Fang d, Xin-Ting Yang a, b, c, Jia-Wei Han a, b, c, *
a
Information Technology Research Center, Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, Beijing, 100097, China
b
National Engineering Research Center for Information Technology in Agriculture, Beijing, 100097, China
c
National Engineering Laboratory for Agri-product Quality Traceability, Beijing Academy of Agricultural and Forestry Sciences, Beijing, 100097, China
d
College of Information and Intelligence, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha, 410128, China

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Background: Meat packaging and intelligent evaluation and monitoring of key parameters not only are important
Meat technologies to ensure meat quality and safety but also form the key foundation for optimizing packaging ma­
Cold chain logistics terials and improving the efficiency of cold chain operations. In recent years, numerous studies have focused on
Packaging
comprehensive (or multi-functional) packaging materials, multiple parameter evaluation methods, quality
Quality perception
Intelligent development
intelligent monitoring technology, and optimization of the control of various links in cold chain logistics (CCL).
Such research has significant practical application value for extending meat shelf-life and reducing the risk of
foodborne diseases.
Scope and approach: This paper reviews the current research status, existing problems, and future evolution of
CCL by focusing on meat packaging, meat quality evaluation and monitoring, and meat quality prediction and
control. We also elaborate in detail the challenges faced in researching these topics and discuss the focal points of
future research aiming to improve the quality and efficiency of CCL.
Key findings and conclusions: Packaging material optimization and dynamic quality perception are vital for
achieving meat quality and safety over the entire CCL and demand the digital and intelligent development of the
meat cold chain. A key finding of this review is that the comprehensive (or composite) packaging and intelligent
quality assessment and monitoring are important forces promoting the transformation of traditional meat CCL to
smart, green, and efficient CLL involving the intelligent management and control of all links therein.

1. Introduction
Fresh meat is rich in high protein and trace elements needed by the
human body (e.g., iron, zinc, selenium, iodine) for health maintenance
and disease prevention (e.g., skin rash, cardiovascular disease, gastro­
intestinal disease) (Das et al., 2020). However, with the improving living
standards and increased consumption, consumers no longer focus solely
on the nutritional value of meat but also express personalized and
diversified desires for freshness, quality, and safety in meat.
Meat contains many nutrients that are beneficial to the growth of
microorganisms, which is the main cause of meat spoilage and food­
borne diseases. The growth rate of microorganisms in meat depends
strongly on variations in environmental temperature and humidity.
Unstable and unsuitable temperature and humidity increase the bio­
logical activity of microorganisms and accelerate their growth, which
leads to increased spoilage and deterioration of meat. The result is not
only significant economic loss and food waste but also an increased risk
of edibility problems and foodborne diseases, which puts public health
at risk. Bruckner et al. (2012) pointed out that the biological activity of
Pseudomonas is significantly enhanced under dynamic environmental
conditions, which accelerate the spoilage of fresh pork and significantly
reduce its shelf-life; in fact, as the storage temperature rises from 4 to
7–15 ◦ C, the shelf-life decreases by about 3.0% and 14.9%, respectively.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that food­
borne pathogens cause about 48 million infections, 128 000 hospitali­
zations, and 3000 deaths each year in the United States, resulting in an
estimated $78 billion in additional healthcare costs (Scallan et al., 2011;
Upadhyay, Nair, Yin, Liu, & Venkitanarayanan, 2021). In addition, it
also causes significant economic loss to the food production and pro­
cessing industry. To meet consumer demand to maintain the quality and

* Corresponding author. Room 1110, Building A, Beijing NongkeMasion, 11# ShuguangHuayuan Middle Road, Banjing, Haidian District, Beijing, 100097, China.
E-mail addresses: hanjw@nercita.org.cn, hjwlove8@163.com (J.-W. Han).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tifs.2021.12.006
Received 9 June 2021; Received in revised form 12 October 2021; Accepted 4 December 2021
Available online 7 December 2021
0924-2244/© 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Q.-S. Ren et al.
safety of meat products, extend the shelf-life, and reduce the risk of
foodborne diseases, the low-temperature cold chain has become an
important topic of research, especially in developing countries such as
China. According to the 2020 Development Report of the China Cold
Chain Logistics Alliance, in 2019, the market size of China’s CCL in­
dustry was approximately 339.1 billion yuan, an increase of 50.52
billion yuan over 2018 and a year-on-year increase of 17.5%.
The low-temperature cold chain can provide an appropriate tem­
perature and humidity environment for meat production, processing,
storage, transportation, sales, and other links and can effectively inhibit
the growth of microorganisms, reduce enzyme activity, slow the rate of
meat deterioration, and thereby reduce the incidence of foodborne
disease caused by microorganisms. However, the CCL has many links,
each of which involves many hazard-analysis and critical control points.
Breaking the chain at any key node increases the risk of meat spoilage
and causes irreversible food waste, excess energy consumption, and
reduces the significance of subsequent links in the cold chain. In addi­
tion, all links in CCL are interdependent, interrelated, and separated
from the upstream or downstream links of the cold chain, so research on
a single link may lead to biased results, making it difficult to apply the
results in practical engineering (Han et al., 2021). Therefore, the links in
the CCL must be systematically controlled, with research and innovation
applied to the key points in each link. Such an approach is vital for
improving the quality and food-preservation ability of CCL.
Research on meat packaging, the dynamic perception of the envi­
ronment and meat quality, shelf-life prediction, and operational opti­
mization are all key points for improving the food-quality-preservation
ability of CCL and directly or indirectly maintaining or improving the
quality and safety of meat and extend the sales cycle. Meat packaging
protects meat from environmental pollution and other nefarious effects
(e.g., physical damage, temperature, humidity, microorganisms); it is
vital not only for ensuring meat quality and safety but also for maxi­
mizing the meat shelf-life and reducing food loss. Inappropriate pack­
aging also increases waste, especially in developing countries where
packaging technology and packaging materials are lacking, and poor
packaging often exacerbates the imbalance between supply and demand
in the food market (Schumann & Schmid, 2018). Furthermore, tem­
perature and humidity are important environmental factors that affect
meat quality and safety, so CCL must include dynamic sensing tech­
nology to detect environmental and quality factors. Such real-time
monitoring would provide early warning to ensure the integrity and
precise control of CCL, thereby allowing for a timely response to changes
in environmental conditions within the CC. This would ensure a suitable
temperature and humidity environment across the entire meat cold
chain and prevent meat spoilage caused by temperature and humidity
breaks (Witjaksono, Rabih, Yahya, & Alva, 2018).
The shelf-life is the external manifestation of food quality and, to a
large extent, depends on the consumer purchase decision and market
prices. The key points of CCL may be optimized by adjusting the shelf-
life to maintain meat quality and safety and extend the shelf life. At
the same time, control-decision optimization minimizes the energy
consumption, cost, and environmental impact of CCL (Kim, Santos, Kim,
Kim, & Koo, 2020). Many promising technologies are currently avail­
able, such as active packaging, smart packaging, green packaging, the
Internet of Things, big data, blockchains, digital twins, and artificial
intelligence, and are used directly or indirectly to improve the
quality-preservation ability and comprehensive service level of meat
CCL. Such technologies form the main innovation and research di­
rections for transforming and upgrading meat CCL to the digital, intel­
ligent, efficient, and ecological system of the future.
In recent years, researchers the world over have published numerous
studies on fresh-meat packaging, environmental detection, and intelli­
gent control of CCL, providing important references for ensuring the
quality and safety of meat and for improving the intelligent and envi­
ronmentally sustainable service level of CCL. However, to date, no sys­
tematic, comprehensive review is available on the progress in research
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Trends in Food Science & Technology 119 (2022) 133–151
into CCL for fresh meat. The present paper aims to fill this gap by
reviewing the current state of meat CCL research and its challenges from
the viewpoint of meat packaging, environmental sustainability, quality
assessment and monitoring, shelf-life prediction, and decision optimi­
zation. By considering the specific needs of the upstream and down­
stream cold chain, this paper elaborates in detail the aggregation points
of future innovation and research to reveal useful directions for future
research on meat CCL quality and efficiency. Finally, this paper dis­
cusses the development prospects and future challenges of a low-carbon,
smart, and humanized fresh-meat supply chain.
2. Parameters for evaluating meat quality
The parameters for evaluating meat quality can be obtained by
monitoring sensory, physicochemical, and biological indicators and
then building a shelf-life prediction model, thereby evaluating meat
quality based on the shelf-life, which is a general method for evaluating
meat quality (see Fig. 1). Table 1 shows some common parameters for
evaluating meat quality (Teixeira & Rodrigues, 2021; Yimenu, Koo, Kim,
Kim, & Kim, 2019). Sensory indicator directly affect consumer pur­
chasing decisions, food market prices, and sales volume, thereby
affecting the overall economic benefits of the meat industry, which is the
most important factor determining the commercial value of fresh meat
(Hosseinpour, Ilkhchi, & Aghbashlo, 2019). Consumers often only
consider sensory characteristics such as meat tenderness, color, and odor
when selecting meat products. Odor is considered by consumers to be
the most reliable indicator for evaluating meat quality because odor
changes usually precede variations in the appearance of the product,
such as discoloration and stickiness (Wojnowski, Majchrzak, Dymerski,
Gębicki, & Namieśnik, 2017).
Sensory analysis is considered an empirical science involving trained
panelists that evaluate meat quality based on quantitative sensory in­
dicators such as color, smell, and flavor as determined by human
observation or tasting. Given a certain number of trained panelists that
repetitively evaluate, describe, and discuss meat quality characteristics,
the quantitative characteristics of meat products can be obtained
through statistical analysis, which means that the sensory analysis can
objectively reflect the meat quality. Based on such a sensory analysis (i.
e., the Generalized Procrustes analysis), Amorim, Rodrigues, Pereira,
and Teixeira (2016) evaluated the quality of fresh chicken in terms of
smell, color, toughness, and juiciness and provided the quantitative data
of the sensory evaluation parameters by the nine assessors. However, the
approach has some defects such as inefficiency, individual differences
(e.g., gender, age, race, occupation), and a long evaluation cycle, which
makes it difficult to satisfy the rapidly increasing demand for meat
quality assessment (Taheri-Garavand, Fatahi, Omid, & Makino, 2019).
With the development of information technology and sensor technology,
some specific sensor devices (e.g., electronic nose, electronic tongue,
electronic eye) have been developed to simulate the human sensory
system and analyze the color, smell, taste, and other characteristics of
meat, thereby improving the reliability and efficiency of meat-quality
assessment.
Wojnowski et al. (2017) pointed out that the electronic nose can
simulate the human olfactory system to distinguish and identify odor
signatures of meat (e.g., sulfide, ethanol, ammonia, aromatic compo­
nents). Given its objectivity and sensitivity, the electronic nose is an
effective tool for evaluating meat quality. However, no single or com­
bined index exists as a general index for meat-quality assessment,
mainly because many factors affect the perishability of meat, such as
environmental temperature, environmental humidity, storage time, and
meat category, and the key evaluation indexes of meat quality differ
under different storage and transportation conditions. Therefore, the
focus of future research should be to analyze the internal relationship
between different evaluation indexes and food quality from multiple
perspectives so as to improve the objectivity and accuracy of
meat-quality assessment.
Q.-S. Ren et al. Trends in Food Science & Technology 119 (2022) 133–151

Fig. 1. General method for predicting shelf-life.

sensory attributes of meat through visual observation, taste, smell, and

Table 1
other sensory experiences, which provides objective data on meat
Meat-quality evaluation indicators.
quality and guidance for evaluating meat quality. However, this
First level Second level indicator Reference food Parameter approach depends strongly on the trained panelists and is therefore
indicator range
highly subjective, making the sensory data fluctuate significantly.
Sensory Indicator Color Pork, beef Bright red and Amorim et al. (2016) used the analysis of variance to analyze the
shiny
chicken freshness evaluation of nine assessors, and the results show that
Tenderness Pork, beef, Elastic and not
salmon sticky some panelists produce large differences due to their different evalua­
Juiciness Pork, beef Slightly moist tion methods. Therefore, sophisticated instruments are required to
and tastes juicy measure sensory indicators such as color, odor, and flavor and to analyze
Special flavor Pork, beef, Odorless, the data to obtain the results, thereby reducing such subjective errors. In
Sturgeon fragrant, and
addition, color and odor, sensory analysis cannot quantify, analyze, and
delicious
Physicochemical Water holding Pork, beef 70%–75% evaluate some indicators that can more accurately evaluate meat qual­
indicator capacity ity, such as pH, TVB-N, and total bacteria count. Furthermore, quanti­
PH Pork 5.9–6.5 tative evaluation methods based on sensing devices or physical and
Shear force Beef <4.2 kg/1.27
chemical tests can compensate for the deficiencies of sensory evaluation
cm-D
TVB-N content Pork <15 mg/100 g
and can more objectively and accurately determine meat quality.
Protein content Rabbit 18.6–22.4 g/ Yimenu et al. (2019) considered the total plate count, Escherichia coli
100 g number, color, pH, TVB-N content, and other parameters as quality in­
Biological Total bacteria count, Pork, beef, 7.0–8.0 log dicators and showed that the total plate count changed most signifi­
indicator Pseudomonas count, salmon, CFU/g
cantly with ambient temperature and time, which could be used as a key
E. coli count, … Chicken,
sturgeon indicator for quality assessment of fresh chicken. Bekhit, Holman,
Giteru, and Hopkins (2021) pointed out that TVB-N is often used as a
biomarker for protein and amine degradation, and its content correlates
Along these lines, Taheri-Garavand et al. (2019) evaluated meat significantly with meat quality, making it an effective indicator for
quality by comprehensively analyzing the color, shape, size, surface evaluating meat quality. The TVB-N content in meat such as pork, beef,
texture, and other features of meat such as fish, beef, pork, chicken, and and fish can be rapidly determined by instrumental tests (such as with
mutton by using computer-vision technology. This is an example of the Kjeldahl nitrogen-determination apparatus).
nondestructive testing of fresh meat and is simpler, faster, and more Huang et al. (2020) point out that identifying biomarkers by prote­
economical than traditional testing. omics is an objective, scientific method to evaluate meat quality. Protein
People evaluate and describe the color, odor, flavor, and other biomarkers reflect the quality of fresh meat and indicate, for example,

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the degradation of myofibrilic protein (which reflects the tenderness of
meat) and myoglobin oxidation (which characterizes meat color).
However, these evaluation methods are time-consuming, destructive,
unstable, and have other shortcomings, making them unsuitable for
CCL, which demands rapid testing. This constitutes another
quality-control challenge for the meat industry. Therefore, faster and
more reliable nondestructive testing methods are needed to evaluate
meat quality and provide decision support for consumer purchase, in­
ventory management, and optimization and upgrading of CCL.
Along these lines, Ishikawa, Ueno, and Fujii (2016) used visible and
near-infrared spectroscopy to nondestructively evaluate the moisture
content and the interaction between proteins and water molecules in
beef cuts. Lee, Kim, Lee, and Cho (2018) measured the TVB-N content in
fresh pork by using hyperspectral fluorescence imaging and then
analyzed and evaluated the meat quality. Compared with sensory
evaluation methods, these methods are more objective, rapid, and ac­
curate. Antequera, Caballero, Grassi, Uttaro, and Perez-Palacios (2021)
pointed out that, compared with traditional destructive methods,
nondestructive testing technology based on hyperspectral imaging, nu­
clear magnetic resonance, and nuclear magnetic resonance imaging has
the advantages of short detection time and being nondestructive and
noninvasive, so it has wide application prospects for assessing meat
quality. However, due to its high price per test, few commercial appli­
cations are available. Moreover, with the development of new technol­
ogies such as information technology, sensor technology, and
image-recognition technology, meat-quality assessment is gradually
moving toward online visualization, miniaturization, specialization,
multi-sensor fusion, and multi-detection integrated technology to pro­
vide a more affordable, accurate, and reliable quality assessment
method for fresh meat products. Finally, Hosseinpour et al. (2019)
developed a smartphone application based on machine vision technol­
ogy to intelligently analyze the image texture of fresh beef by using
artificial neural network algorithms in uncontrolled imaging conditions.
This enabled them to evaluate beef quality in an economical, reliable,
noninvasive, and nondestructive manner.
3. Meat packaging
Meat is prone to spoilage, and its quality and safety are closely
related to consumer health (Schumann & Schmid, 2018). Effectively
preventing meat spoilage and maintaining meat quality requires not
only better refrigeration technology but also advanced modern pack­
aging technology. Meat-packaging engineering can prevent direct con­
tact between the meat and the exterior environment and thereby prevent
the secondary pollution of meat; it allows the meat to be stored in a
confined space, which greatly reduces the oxidation of the meat and the
concomitant deleterious effect on meat quality (McMillin, 2017). At
present, the more common packaging methods mainly include active
packaging (AP), intelligent packaging (IP), and green packaging (GP)
(see Fig. 2).
3.1. Active packaging
AP is a novel modern packaging technology that combines active
substances with polymers for synthetic materials to maintain or improve
the quality and safety of meat and extend its shelf-life by inhibiting the
growth of microorganisms and slowing the damage caused by lipid and
protein oxidation (Domínguez et al., 2018). The active substance is
added mainly in three ways: (1) into the sachet or pad in the packaging
bag; (2) directly coated on the food surface or on the inner surface of the
packaging; and (3) incorporated into the polymer used in the packaging
(Han, Ruiz-Garcia, Qian, & Yang, 2018). Throughout meat CCL, AP also
proposes diversified packaging forms to satisfy the different CCL re­
quirements of materials, technology, functions, consumption, and
environment (Table 2).
AP can be divided into antimicrobial AP, antioxidant AP, deodoriz­
ing and fragrance-preserving AP, and other types. The main factors
affecting meat quality include microbial activity, microbial species,
moisture content, environmental temperature and humidity, and envi­
ronmental gas composition over the entire CCL. Microbial growth re­
duces meat quality and is one of the most important factors; microbial
activity is significantly influenced by variations in environmental

Fig. 2. Summary of AP, IP, and GP (Ezati et al., 2019; Jafarzadeh et al., 2020; Kalpana et al., 2019; McMillin, 2017; Mohamed et al., 2020; Moustafa et al., 2019).

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Table 2
Active packaging categories.
Type Component Function Application
AMP Antimicrobials, essential oil, Inhibiting LPM, APs,
enzyme, spices, CO2 emitters, microorganism growth MP, FV
CO2 scavengers, antibacterial in meat.
polymers, organic acids.
Adv.: High antibacterial efficiency, wide antibacterial range, extending
shelf-life, reducing the risk of foodborne disease (Gorrasi et al., 2020; Morelli
et al., 2015).
Disad.: Maybe contaminate food due to the migration of active substances
into meat, maybe negative organoleptic effects such as essential oil’s aroma
arising (Krepker et al., 2017).
AOP Antioxidants, essential oil, Reducing the oxidation LPM, APs,
plant extracts from herbs, O2 rate of lipids and MP, FV
scavengers, CO2 emitters, proteins.
antioxidant polymers.
Adv.: High antioxidant efficiency, preventing browning and rancidity of
meat, extending shelf-life, natural antioxidants are safer (Cunha et al., 2018;
Wrona et al., 2021).
Disad.: Negative changes in color due to limitation in the formation of
oxymyoglobin due to low oxygen content, packaging deformation due to
reduced oxygen content (Majid, Nayik, Dar, & Nanda, 2018).
DFP Aroma absorbents, acid Removing odors. LPM, APs,
compounds, essential oil, MP
spices, CO2 emitters, plant fiber.
Adv.: High odor removal efficiency, extending shelf-life (Ahmed et al.,
2017).
Disad.: The original aroma of meat may be masked by the spices (Umaraw
et al., 2020).
MAP Moisture absorbents, active Absorbing excess LPM, APs,
absorption pads, super- moisture. MP
absorbent polymers, desiccants.
Adv.: Reducing moisture condensation to improve sensory quality, extending
shelf-life, reducing food loss and waste (Bovi et al., 2018).
Disad.: May cause the original moisture loss of the food (Ahmed et al., 2017).
Notes: AMP: Antimicrobial packaging, AOP: Antioxidant packaging, DFP: Deo­
dorizing and fragrance-preserving packaging, MAP: Moisture absorber pack­
aging, APs: Aquatic products, LPM: Livestock and poultry meat, MP: Meat
products, FV: Fruit and vegetables, Adv.: Advantages, Disad.: Disadvantages.
temperature and humidity and may be controlled by using AP technol­
ogy such as antimicrobials, CO2 emitters, and moisture absorbents,
which can reduce microorganism activity, inhibit microorganism
growth, and slow the deterioration of meat (Umaraw et al., 2020). Silva,
Domingues, and Nerín (2018) added active pads in fresh chicken
packaging based on pinosylvin inclusion complexes, which inhibit the
growth of campylobacter, pseudomonas, Enterobacter, and other micro­
organisms and slow the spoilage of fresh chicken. Compared with the
more common absorbent pads, active pads under the same storage
conditions reduce the growth rate of campylobacter in fresh chicken by
more than 50%. Hematizad et al. (2021) incorporated the
gelatin-nanochitosan films with Zataria multiflora Boiss essential oil to
create an antibacterial environment for chicken breast packaging, which
especially reduces the activity of L. monocytogenes and extends chicken
shelf-life by at least 14 days when in refrigerated storage. Therefore, AP
is an important research area in meat packaging because it provides a
multi-functional storage environment by inhibiting the growth of mi­
croorganisms during the storage, transportation and sale of meat and
meat products without inducing undesirable sensory properties.
Depending on the actions of the active substance, AP can be divided
into absorbent type and release type. Absorbent AP means that the
active substances in the packaging directly absorb unwanted substances
from the food surface or the surrounding gas to maintain the quality of
meat; examples include CO2 scavengers, O2 scavengers, and moisture
absorbers (Bovi et al., 2018). Releasing AP means that the active sub­
stances in the packaging diffuse out from the active agent and to the food
surface or the surrounding environment to prevent food from spoilage
and deterioration; examples include CO2 emitters, antimicrobials, and
antioxidants (Almasi, Oskouie, & Saleh, 2021).
Meat color is one of the most direct factors affecting the consumer’s
purchase decision and is closely related to the oxygen content in the
surrounding environment. Sufficient oxygen content not only acceler­
ates the oxidation rate of lipids and proteins, resulting in the loss of meat
nutrients but also accelerates the growth of aerobic bacteria, thereby
accelerating meat deterioration. AP technologies such as antioxidants,
O2 scavengers, and CO2 emitters can alleviate the adverse effects of
oxygen compounds in the packaging and thereby maintain meat quality
and increase sales (Domínguez et al., 2018). In addition, the fusion of
natural antioxidants and packaging materials alleviates concerns about
the health and environmental safety of synthetic compounds, which has
further expanded the application of antioxidants in meat packaging
(McMillin, 2017). Navikaite-Snipaitiene et al. (2018) used biopolymers
(cellulose acetate or modified starch) and natural antioxidants (clove
essential oil or eugenol) to make packaging materials and studied the
antioxidant properties of the coatings by monitoring the variations in
beef quality. After 14 days, the lipid oxidation rate of fresh beef
decreased by 65%, resulting in the maintenance of the original meat
color. This shows that natural antioxidants in packaging materials in­
crease the shelf-life of beef or other meats.
Based on the literature listed in Table 2, releasing AP is currently the
most widely used and most effective AP in meat. However, the practical
effect of releasing AP is closely related to the diffusion rate (i.e., diffu­
sion constant) of active substances. Slow diffusion does not deliver
sufficient active substances to inhibit meat spoilage, and fast diffusion
delivers excessive active substances, causing rapid spoilage and unnec­
essary waste (Ahmed et al., 2017). Therefore, the main challenge for
current research is to control the mobility of active substances to prolong
their activity and thereby maintain meat quality and extend meat
shelf-life. To solve such problems, intelligent information technology
can be combined to monitor the release of active substances in food
packaging. On the one hand, such an approach would better maintain
meat quality and provide healthy food for consumers; on the other hand,
it would conserve resources, which is conducive to sustainable
development.
In addition, given that active substances are added into packaging
materials, future research should study the activity and stability of the
active substances to determine the basic properties of AP materials (e.g.,
mechanical properties, barrier properties, safety). Furthermore, some
synthetic materials in meat packaging materials may not be recyclable
and are not biodegradable, which in turn may have a negative impact on
the environment (e.g., white waste). Studies show that some nano­
particles and nanocomposites have excellent physical and chemical
properties, antibacterial potential, and biodegradability, and all at low
cost. For example, silver nanoparticles inhibit the growth of microor­
ganisms such as Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus (Bajpai et al.,
2018), which is of great interest for the development of meat packaging.
Therefore, the use of nanotechnology to incorporate various active
substances into meat packaging materials to produce composite pack­
aging can improve the mechanical properties, barrier capabilities,
biodegradability, and antibacterial capabilities of packaging materials,
thereby improving meat quality and safety, extending shelf-life, and
reducing environmental pressure. Pirsa and Shamusi (2019) used a
polypyrrole-zinc oxide nanocomposite to optimize the active film based
on bacterial cellulose and applied it to chicken-thigh packaging. This
nanocomposite significantly inhibits the growth rate of microorganisms
in chicken thighs, effectively enhancing the film’s activities (e.g., anti­
oxidant, antibacterial, biodegradability) and prolonging the shelf-life.
Furthermore, these natural synthetic materials are currently consid­
ered to be efficient, economical, low-cost, biodegradable, and safe in
meat packaging and may potentially be used to improve meat safety and
environmental friendliness.
3.2. Intelligent packaging
IP is an innovative packaging method that allows the food or internal
environment in the packaging to be monitored through modern

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information technology. This involves detecting, sensing, recording,
tracking, communicating, warning, and other functions to provide de­
cision support, ensure the meat quality and safety, and expand the sales
radius and cycle (Yam, Takhistov, & Miltz, 2005; Chowdhury & Morey,
2019). IP not only provides information about the meat itself (e.g.,
origin, composition, production date, shelf-life), but also provides his­
torical information (e.g., storage time, environment temperature, envi­
ronment humidity, gas component content, microbial growth), which
can serve to prevent food waste and improve food logistics and trace­
ability (Realini & Marcos, 2014). Alamdari, Aksoy, Aksoy, Beck, and
Jiang (2021) developed a novel paper-based pH-sensitive meat spoilage
detector in seafood packaging to evaluate the real-time freshness of
catfish, which provides information on the history of the catfish during
the entire CCL and thereby reveals the status of the meat to the stake­
holders in the supply chains, such as the producer, retailer, and con­
sumer. Moreover, the detectors are low-cost and biodegradable and can
thus be applied to other meat and packaging sizes by adjusting the de­
tector pH. Intelligent devices such as radio frequency identification
(RFID) tags, time-temperature indicators (TTIs), gas indicators (GIs),
and freshness indicators (FIs) are the most widely used IP devices
(Table 3) (Kalpana, Priyadarshini, Leena, Moses, & Anandhar­
amakrishnan, 2019).
RFID tags are a type of automated identification technology that
allows noncontact bidirectional radio-frequency data communication. It
can read and write to recording media (electronic tag or radio frequency
card) and so can identify the target and exchange data (Kumari, Nar­
saiah, Grewal, & Anurag, 2015). RFID technology can be used to
implement information recording and tracking through the entire meat
cold chain and simultaneously monitor multiple packaging targets and
product information (e.g., meat source, process parameters, environ­
mental parameters, business information) (Fang, Zhao, Warner, &
Johnson, 2017). This provides significant advantages for meat trace­
ability, warehouse management, and meat-quality assurance. Alfian
Table 3
Intelligent packaging categories.
Type Principle Cost Brand
RFIDs Radio waves. Higher GAEN RFID easy2log©
RT0005ET, AMS SL13A.
FA: Meat information collection, identification, tracking, and CCL
management.
Adv.: Small dimension, non-contact, collect information in real time,
traceability, the operation range is larger (Firouz, Mohi-Alden, & Omid,
2021; Vanderroost et al., 2014).
Disad.: High production cost, need more powerful electronic information
network.
TTIs Physical, chemical, Low 3 M™ MonitorMark™, Fresh-
biological, enzymatic. Check®, Timestrip®.
FA: Monitoring the temperature history, reflecting the meat freshness.
Adv.: Low production cost, small label size, temperature sensitive,
detecting and recording temperature abuse (Bhargava et al., 2020; Fang
et al., 2017).
Disad.: The accuracy of the results is relatively low, security risks such as
the substances in TTIs may migrate to meat and contaminate meat.
GIs Redoc dyes, PH dyes, Medium Ageless Eye® oxygen
enzymes. indicator, Vitalon®.
FA: Detecting the gas changes in meat packaging including composition and
content.
Adv.: Detecting packaging leaks (Firouz et al., 2021; Ghaani, Cozzolino,
Castelli, & Farris, 2016).
Disad.: Such indicators suffer from dye leaching upon contact with the
moisture in the package’s headspace.
FIs PH dyes, dyes reacting with High Sentinel system™,
volatile metabolites. Toxinguard®, SensorQ™.
FA: Reflecting meat quality by monitoring the indicator color change.
Adv.: High sensitivity, fast response, directly indicating the deterioration or
loss of freshness in meat packaging (Fang et al., 2017; Moradi et al., 2019).
Disad.: The risk of contaminating meat due to the biochemical reaction on
the indicator.
Notes: RFIDs: Radio frequency identification tags, FA: Function and application.
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et al. (2020) proposed a traceability system based on RFID sensors and
the Internet of Things (IoT) to monitor and collect the environmental
temperature and humidity conditions for perishable food such as meat
during storage and transportation and to implement intelligent control,
thereby ensuring meat quality. Furthermore, the system implements
real-time tracking and recording of meat information, which prevents
the distribution of fake and shoddy products through the supply chain.
Although RFID tags can monitor environmental information and
product information for meat in the cold chain, they cannot monitor the
biochemical reaction involved in meat spoilage and or accurately
monitor variations in meat quality. Instead, biosensors must be used to
monitor spoilage due to specific bacteria in the food, which, when
combined with the environmental information monitored by RFID tags,
achieves real-time monitoring of meat quality and real-time prediction
of the remaining shelf-life so as to provide vital support for consumers’
purchasing decisions. Moreover, RFID tags are relatively expensive to
produce (an order of magnitude more expensive than ordinary barcode
tags), which limits their application to meat and meat products.
Therefore, another problem to consider in future research is how to
reduce the cost of producing RFID tags while ensuring their basic
performance.
Temperature is an important environmental factor that affects the
preservation of meat, and variations in environmental temperature can
easily cause meat spoilage in the CCL. TTIs are intelligent devices that
continuously monitor the time and temperature in meat CCL (e.g.,
during processing, packaging, storage, transportation, marketing) and
emit a warning when the cold chain is broken. Moreover, TTIs typically
indicate food quality via the color of the indicator label, thus providing
decision support for producers and consumers (Realini & Marcos, 2014).
Furthermore, TTIs are not only inexpensive, small, and suitable for
various packaging but also are affected only by temperature and are
immune to external factors such as light and humidity, making them
very popular in meat packaging (see Table 3). Hsiao and Chang (2017)
monitored and assessed the group freshness by using microbial TTIs
under fluctuating temperatures. The TTI color changes irreversibly from
red to yellow, indicating the change in fish freshness from fresh to
spoiled. Mataragas, Bikouli, Korre, Sterioti, and Skandamis (2018)
developed a microbial TTI based on the Janthinobacterium sp. growth
and violacein formation, which monitors the full history of the
time-temperature profile of meat and evaluates the meat quality based
on the label color, thereby predicting the meat shelf-life. For example, a
variation from pale yellow to dark violet signals an increased activity of
the microorganism Janthinobacterium sp., an enhanced deterioration of
the meat, and a reduced shelf-life. However, TTIs can only give the
current range of the remaining shelf-life of the meat product, whereas
the theoretical shelf-life printed on the meat packaging and which af­
fects consumers’ purchase decisions is also greatly affected by the cold
chain environment. Therefore, the historical data provided by TTIs
combined with intelligent algorithms and sensors can lead to intelligent
visual assurances of the quality of packaged food. Thus, the real-time
prediction of the remaining shelf-life should be a primary direction of
future research.
GIs are small, intelligent devices in the form of a packaging label or
an element printed on a packaging film that respond to the changes in
gas composition within the packaging. The gas composition often cor­
responds to the growth and reproduction of microorganisms in food and
thus to food spoilage, so GIs can be used to monitor the quality of
packaged food (Vanderroost, Ragaert, Devlieghere, & Meulenaer, 2014).
With the growth of microorganisms and the oxidation of lipids and
proteins throughout the cold chain, oxygen in the packaging is gradually
consumed, producing a large amount of carbon dioxide. As a result,
research into GIs mainly focuses on oxygen indicators and carbon di­
oxide indicators, thereby applied to meat packaging. The most common
oxygen indicators are colorimetric indicators based on a redox dye (such
as methylene blue redox dye) or a strong reducing agent (such as glucose
in an alkaline media) that, when oxidized, exhibit a clear change in color
Q.-S. Ren et al.
(Vu & Won, 2013). Marek, Velasco-Veléz, Haas, Doll, and Sadowski
(2013) developed a time-monitoring sensor based on the oxidation of
leuco methylene blue to methylene blue can be used to monitor the
quality of meat in the cold chain; the sensor changes from yellow to
green in the presence of oxygen and can be integrated into the polyvinyl
alcohol matrix. However, the color of some GIs is reversible, so once air
leaks into the packaging, the indicator reverts to its initial state, which
means that it cannot accurately reflect the current meat quality. This
also increases production costs due to the need to develop more accu­
rate, reliable, and applicable irreversible GIs, which in turn reduces the
current value of GIs in meat packaging. Therefore, more economical,
practical, and accurate irreversible-color GIs should be developed.
FIs monitor the packaged-food quality by reacting with metabolites
produced by microorganisms that grow in meat. Changes in metabolite
concentration such as glucose, organic acids, ethanol, carbon dioxide,
and volatile nitrogen compounds indicate that microorganisms are
growing and that the meat is spoiling, and these metabolites can be
detected by color indicators or biosensors throughout the cold chain, so
they can be used as indicators of meat freshness (Poyatos-Racionero,
Ros-Lis, Vivancos, & Martínez-Máñez, 2018). Although FIs are more
expensive than TTIs and GIs, they provide consumers with more accu­
rate and reliable meat quality status through a color change produced by
the reaction with microbial metabolites (see Table 3). Therefore, FIs
have a stronger potential for application in meat packaging. Moradi,
Tajik, Almasi, Forough, and Ezati (2019) developed a novel intelligent
pH-sensing indicator based on bacterial nanocellulose and black carrot
anthocyanins changes drastically in color from red to gray as the pH
varies from 2 to 11. Thus, this indicator can be used to monitor the
freshness of rainbow trout or carp fillet stored at 4 ◦ C. The indicator is
deep carmine for fresh fish, charm pink when the product is most edible,
and khaki when the product is spoiled. Ezati, Tajik, and Moradi (2019)
incorporated alizarin in cellulose-chitosan film to fabricate colorimetric
indicators for real-time freshness monitoring of minced beef. These in­
dicators change from yellow to purple as the pH varies from 2 to 11, and
from brown to purple when the total volatile basic nitrogen (TVB-N)
reaches the critical level of 20.53 mg N/100 g. However, the FIs only
reflect the current meat quality or the degree of corruption based on
single indicators such as the TVB-N content, pH, or carbon dioxide
concentration in the packaging. It lacks specificity and can produce false
positives or false negatives, so more research is required to achieve
multitarget monitoring by FIs. Furthermore, FIs must be installed inside
the packaging or directly in contact with the meat, so the indicator itself
or its reaction products once it contacts the microbial metabolites in
food must be considered from the viewpoint of meat quality and safety.
Although IP can monitor packaged food or the internal environment
of packaged food and thereby provide producers and consumers with
current meat information, it cannot fundamentally maintain or improve
meat quality nor extend the shelf-life. However, AP can inhibit the
growth of microorganisms in meat and slow the oxidation rate of lipids
and proteins by absorbing or releasing active substances to maintain
meat quality. Therefore, IP and AP can be combined to form a smarter,
composite packaging, which not only maintains or even improves meat
quality, but also senses, records, and monitors the packaged food and its
environment, thereby optimize the meat packaging. Such composite
packaging can provide decision support for producers and provide
consumers with fresher and higher-quality meat, which positively im­
pacts their purchasing decision, thus promoting sales. In an example of
this approach, Kanatt (2020) compounded polyvinyl alcohol and gelatin
with Amaranthus leaf extract to develop a composite AP-IP food pack­
aging film for fish and chicken, which gives the film antioxidation,
antibacterial, and intelligent properties, allowing it to slow the growth
of microorganisms, reduced oxidative rancidity, and change from red to
yellow when the meat spoils.
Furthermore, some intelligent nanomaterials provide a sensing
function that can ensure the integrity of meat packaging by detecting
leaks, thereby effectively evaluating the meat quality and safety. For
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example, nanosensors can respond to environmental changes (e.g.,
temperature, humidity, oxygen content), and microbial nanosensors can
detect foodborne pathogens and food spoilage substances (Alfei,
Marengo, & Zuccari, 2020). Aghaei, Ghorani, Emadzadeh, Kadkhodaee,
and Tucker (2020) designed color-changing protein-based halochromic
nanosensors to monitor trout freshness in real-time. These sensors are
simple, nondestructive, low-cost, controllable, and visible, which makes
them attractive for applications in intelligent packaging of meat.
Therefore, composite packaging that combines nanomaterials and bio­
polymers in meat packaging can either enhance the property charac­
teristics of neat polymers or improve the functional properties of the
packaging, which are also important directions for research and devel­
opment of future intelligent packaging.
3.3. Green packaging
GP refers to packaging technology that is more environmentally
sustainable (i.e., “greener”) and safer compared with AP and IP. On the
one hand, GP has minimal impact on the natural environment, and the
packaging materials are degradable and edible and do not cause white
pollution; on the other hand, the natural and harmless substances used
in GP materials ensure meat quality, improve security, and accelerate
sales (Moustafa, Youssef, Darwish, & Abou-Kandil, 2019). At present,
most research concentrates on maintaining the quality of meat and meat
products and extending the sales cycle by adding natural antimicrobials
or natural antioxidants. For example, Borzi, Torrieri, Wrona, and Nerín
(2019) prepared antioxidant polyamide film by adding the active extract
of green tea and used the film to package fresh beef to slow the oxidation
rate of lipids and proteins and thereby improve the quality and safety of
the beef. Edible films, natural active substances, degradable AP, and
other packaging materials and methods are the most common and
practical forms of GP (Table 4) (Jafarzadeh et al., 2020).
Polysaccharides, such as pectin, starch, alginate, carrageenan, xan­
than gum, and other natural edible substances, have been widely used in
biopolymer materials to make edible coatings and films. These coatings
and films can be directly eaten by animals or humans without causing
health risks, thereby greatly reducing the environmental pollution
Table 4
Green packaging categories.
Type Principle Component Cost
EGP Edible films or Protein, fat, starch, Medium (e.g., need
coatings. polysaccharide, plant fiber. additional outer
packaging)
FA: Increasing the edibility of meat packaging materials.
Adv.: Lightweight, hygienic, non-toxic, safe, edible, environmentally
friendly, good sensory properties (Mohamed et al., 2020).
Disad.: Poor heat resistance (e.g., sugar coating melts easily), poor moisture
resistance due to some packaging materials are easily soluble in water such as
whey protein.
DGP Biodegradable Polycaprolactone, polylactic High (e.g., high raw
materials. acid, polyvinyl alcohol, material and
starch, cellulose. processing costs)
FA: Increasing the biodegradability of meat packaging materials.
Adv.: Environmentally friendly, reducing waste disposal costs.
Disad.: High production cost, poor degradation controllability such as
degradation occurs during storage rather than waste disposal (Göksen et al.,
2021).
NGP Natural active Plant essential oil, rosemary Low (e.g., materials
substances. extract, green tea extract, are easily available
plant fiber. and recyclable)
FA: Increasing the safety of packaging materials.
Adv.: Non-toxic, safe, economical, regenerable, save material,
environmentally friendly, multifunction such as antibacterial, antioxidation,
biodegradable.
Disad.: Poor mechanical properties due to natural substances are brittle,
difficult to extract natural active substances (Bhargava et al., 2020).
Notes: EGP: Edible green packaging, DGP: Degradable green packaging, NGP:
Natural green packaging.
Q.-S. Ren et al.
caused by the use of traditional plastic packaging (Mohamed,
EI-Sakhawy, & EI-Sakhawy, 2020). Therefore, such coatings and films
have a wide range of application potential in meat packaging. Abdel-­
Naeem, Zayed, and Mansour (2021) using chitosan and lauric arginate
edible coating in chicken packaging, which significantly reduces the
microbial activity (e.g., psychrotrophs, S. aureus, Enterobacteriaceae),
improves oxidative stability, and maintains the sensory characteristics
during frozen storage of chicken, thereby ensuring the quality and safety
of chicken. Mohsin et al. (2020) mixed xanthan gum and curdlan at a
ratio of 1:1 or 2:3, and the prepared blended edible films with excellent
miscibility, which greatly improves the film’s mechanical and
moisture-barrier properties and helps to maintain food quality and
safety.
Extracting natural active substances from plants, fruits, and vegeta­
bles and applying them in meat packaging not only ensures meat safety
but also allows for natural degradation of the packaging materials,
thereby avoiding white pollution and greatly alleviating the damage to
the natural environment caused by traditional plastic packaging. Singh,
Baisthakur, and Yemul (2020) used renewable resources such as pectin
and sodium alginate as raw materials and crosslinked with bio-based
acids such as citric and tartaric acid to prepare crosslinked polymer
films that can not only be eaten by small animals but also degrades
easily, thus solving the problem of environmental pollution of plastic
packaging materials. Göksen et al. (2021) developed biodegradable
active chicken-packaging materials based on hybrid cross-linked elec­
trospun polyvinyl alcohol containing essential oils. Such packaging of­
fers good antioxidant, antibacterial, and biodegradable properties that
maintain chicken quality, extend chicken shelf-life, and reduce envi­
ronmental impact. Furthermore, natural active substances such as plant
essential oil, rosemary extract, and green tea extract have antimicrobial
and antioxidant properties, so packaging that incorporates this type of
natural active substance inhibits the growth of microorganisms in food
and slows the oxidation rate of lipids and proteins, which is vital for
maintaining food quality and ensuring food safety (Medina-Jaramillo,
Ochoa-Yepes, Bernal, & Famá, 2017). Moreover, the natural active
substances are nontoxic, economical, sensitive, safe, and easily available
because they can be obtained directly from natural sources (e.g., pro­
tein, fat, starch, plant fiber, plant essential oils) (Bhargava, Sharanagat,
Mor, & Kumar, 2020). They thus have a wide range of potential appli­
cations in meat packaging to ensure meat quality and safety, relieve
environmental pressure, and improve economic efficiency. Yu et al.
(2020) developed an active packaging system based on mixed natural
preservatives for beef refrigerated storage, which can effectively slow
the lipid oxidation of beef and inhibit the growth of food-borne patho­
gens, thereby prolonging beef shelf-life and preventing related food
poisoning. Another example of this approach is the work of Adilah,
Jamilah, Noranizan, and Hanani (2018), who incorporated mango-peel
extract into a fish-gelatin film to prepare packaging film. The
water-vapor permeability and solubility of the film were significantly
reduced, and the film not only biodegrades with ease but also offers
significantly better mechanical properties and antioxidant capacity,
which has good application potential in meat packaging to maintains
meat quality and safety.
The necessity of using more environmentally friendly, safe, and
reliable natural active extracts in packaging, the sustainability of
packaging materials, the difficulty of extracting natural active sub­
stances, and the safety of active substances remain the main focal points
of current research. As discussed above, AP effectively maintains or even
improves food quality and extends food shelf-life, but hidden dangers
may lurk in its active substances. When used alone, it cannot provide
intelligent, visual, real-time monitoring. IP, on the other hand, can
monitor food quality during storage and transportation by using infor­
mation technology but cannot directly maintain or improve the sensory
quality of food. GP provides consumers with greener, safer, healthier
food but lacks the advantages of AP and IP for maintaining and moni­
toring food quality and safety.
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In summary, this research indicates a new direction for the devel­
opment of active-green composite packaging. In the future, nanotech­
nology may become a potential avenue for the simultaneous integration
of active, intelligent, and green packaging to achieve an integrated or
composite packaging that will be more conducive to maintaining or
improving food quality and prolonging shelf-life, thereby providing
consumers with safer and more reliable green food. Alizadeh-Sani,
Mohammadian, and Mcclements (2020) used nanotechnology to
combine TiO2 nanoparticles, cellulose nanofibers, and essential oils with
whey protein to prepare nanocomposite packaging materials that offer
improved mechanical strength, antibacterial activity, oxidation resis­
tance, and biodegradability for packaging materials. Furthermore, such
nanocomposite packaging materials inhibit the growth of microorgan­
isms, slow the oxidation rate of lipids, and only very low levels of
nanoparticles migrate from the packaging into the meat during storage,
thereby maintaining the quality and safety of meat and reducing food
waste and food-borne diseases. Therefore, such nanocomposite pack­
aging should be a primary focus of future research for meat packaging.
4. Meat quality monitoring and optimization in cold chain
logistics
A continuous and uninterrupted cold chain temperature and hu­
midity environment is the basis for ensuring meat quality and safety.
The integrity of CCL is rarely maintained in today’s commercial meat
supply chain, and the abuse of temperature and chain breaks remain
prominent problems that lead to significant meat loss, waste, and eco­
nomic loss. Therefore, improving the integrity and efficiency of CCL has
become an important research topic. Numerous potential technologies
are currently vying to solve these problems, such as the IoT, big data
techniques, blockchain technology, and digital-twin technology (see
Table 5). This is also a major driving force that promotes the digital,
intelligent, and efficient development of CCL, which focuses on
improving data sharing, transparency, and the ability of upstream and
downstream suppliers within CCL to coordinate and supervise meat
safety. The following sections present the current research status,
shortfalls, and future evolution of these new technologies within CCL.
4.1. Internet of Things and big data
The IoT is an extension and expansion of traditional Internet tech­
nology. Combining RFID, wireless sensor networks (WSN), the global
positioning system (GPS), and other information-sensing equipment
with the Internet forms a huge network that interconnects and allows
communication between things or between things and people (see
Fig. 3) (Sestino, Prete, Piper, & Guido, 2020). Given the continuous
progress and development of IoT technology, it is not only widely used
in the fields of transportation, medical treatment, and security but also
plays an important role in current meat CCL.
As shown in Fig. 4, if the temperature in a food-transport vehicle is
too high, the temperature warning system will be triggered and send a
signal to the refrigeration system to regulate the refrigeration ventila­
tion and maintain the ambient temperature in the appropriate range
(Witjaksono et al., 2018). The traditional method to collect information
in the meat CCL is primarily manual recording or barcode scanning, so
the capacity to collect, transmit, and share information regarding the
supply chain is relatively poor, which means that operators are unable to
respond to changes over time (e.g., changes in temperature, humidity,
geographical position) (Astill et al., 2019). However, the application of
IoT technology to fresh meat CCL has implemented real-time moni­
toring, tracking, and management and has thereby greatly improved the
integrity, transparency, safety, and traceability of meat in the supply
chain. Mejjaouli and Babiceanu (2018) use RFID, temperature sensors,
GPS, and other sensing devices to monitor perishable food (e.g., meat
and meat products) in real-time, respond to changes in environmental
conditions and monitor the spoilage time of perishable food via the
Q.-S. Ren et al. Trends in Food Science & Technology 119 (2022) 133–151

Table 5 movement of perishable food but also monitors the environmental

Brief introduction of information technology used in meat cold chain. temperature and humidity in real-time to guarantee the quality of
Type Feature Technology Cost perishable food and reduce the danger of perishable food. However,
information sensing technology such as RFID, WSN, and GPS has rela­
IoT Internet of QR Code, RFID, WSN, Higher (e.g.,
everything. NFC, RS, GIS, GPS, hardware equipment, tively high configuration costs and consumes significant energy, which
Internet, WLAN, WIFI, software greatly increases the cost of CCL, lengthens the economic return cycle of
3G/4G/5G. development) enterprises, and reduces the production of related enterprises. This is
FA: Realizing intelligent identification, positioning, tracking, monitoring, also the main reason for the low rate of use of IoT technology in the food
and management in the meat CCL.
Adv.: Monitoring various information in real-time such ambient
supply chain. To solve the problem of high-cost input in CCL, the cost of
temperature, ambient humidity, and gas content. a single sensing device can be reduced by improving the manufacturing
Disad.: High configuration cost, security and privacy risks such as process of sensing equipment or reducing the number of sensing devices
information tampering and privacy leakage due to network attacks ( used in supply chain systems by improving information sensing tech­
Bouzembrak, Klüche, Gavai, & Marvin, 2019).
nology and optimizing the configuration of the IoT infrastructure.Fang
BD Volume, velocity, Machine learning (e.g., Medium (e.g., high
variety, value, decision tree, random hardware cost, data et al. (2017) optimized and upgraded RFID tags to allow simultaneous
veracity. forest, artificial neural platform lease on monitoring of various aspects of packaged products (e.g., product in­
network, deep learning). demand) ventory, environmental temperature, environmental humidity), effec­
FA: Improving high-quality and high-value data services, meat quality tively reducing the number of RFID tags used in the supply chain system
assessment and monitoring, the meat supply chain optimization.
Adv.: More data information (e.g., product information, supplier
and thereby reducing supply-chain costs.
information, retailer information), data visualization, providing intelligent Moreover, problems such as nonstandard data, nonuniform stan­
decision-making. dards, asymmetric information among stakeholders, nonstandard en­
Disad.: High hardware requirements, slow processing speed due to the data terprise production processes, and inconsistent regulatory evaluation
is not only large but also complex, data leakage risk (Tiwari et al., 2018).
methods in the supply chain also seriously affect the health and sus­
BC Unforgeable, Distributed ledger, High (e.g., operating
transparent, consensus mechanism, cost, maintenance tainable development of IoT CCL. A deep cooperation between the
traceable. smart contract, cost) government, enterprises, and researchers is vital to standardize the IoT
cryptology. CCL system (e.g., production standardization, interface standardization,
FA: Ensuring data security, improve data storage efficiency, solving the data standardization, process standardization, management standardi­
problem of data asymmetry, optimizing meat supply chain data
zation), the production process, the data model, and CCL management
management.
Adv.: Data decentralization, high efficiency, transparent, traceable, and thereby improve the standardization and reliability of CCL.
shareable safe, and reliability and information cannot be tampered with ( Since IoT technology is now widely used for fresh meat CCL, all links
Dutta et al., 2020). in the supply chain acquire massive amounts of data, including not only
Disad.: High operating and maintenance costs, poor scalability, limited
product information, supplier information, retailer information, and
capacity, privacy disclosure risk in public blockchain (Azzi et al., 2019).
DW Multiphysics, Computational fluid Low (e.g., low third-party logistics information but also consumer purchase informa­
multiscale, dynamics, computer experiment cost, tion, which greatly promotes the formation of “CCL big data” and even
multidisciplinary. aided design, computer short experiment “food big data.” Big data are characterized by volume, variety, value,
aided engineering. period) velocity, and veracity. If big data could be analyzed and processed
FA: Realizing real-time perception, diagnosis and prediction of the state of
effectively and in a timely fashion, the result would be higher meat
physical entities, optimization of meat cooling operating conditions, analysis
of meat quality evolution process. quality and more safety data services for stakeholders, which would
Adv.: Reducing the experiment costs, save resources, reducing meat loss and provide decision support for CCL-operations management (Addo-­
waste, virtual and real interaction, visualize environmental changes such as Tenkorang & Helo, 2016).
the temperature change process of meat during cold storage.
Tiwari, Wee, and Daryanto (2018) report that big data is the best
Disad.: Difficulties in obtaining multi-dimensional data of physical entities,
poor data security such as data leakage (Kuffi et al., 2016).
technology to process the vast quantities of data processed by the
exponential growth of data. By analyzing and predicting meat quality,
Notes: BD: Big data, BC: Blockchain, DW: Digital twin, QR Code: Quick response meat shelf-life, inventory, and sales, big data techniques can improve
code, NFC: Near field communication, RS: Remote sensing, GIS: Geographic
the efficiency of the meat supply chain, accelerate the response to
information system, WLAN: Wireless local area networks.
changes, and share information between all parties. However, with the
improvement and development of the IoT CCL, data are generated at
logistics RFID-WSN monitoring and control system. If the spoilage time ever-increasing rates, so the quantity of data is ever larger, and the data
changes significantly, the transportation route may be modified and/or types are increasingly diversified. As a result, traditional data processing
the food sold nearer its source to ensure meat quality and safety and methods are hard-pressed to deal with the massive amounts of hetero­
reduce the economic loss caused by meat decay. Therefore, this method geneous data and cannot handle problems such as data-dimension
has a wide range of potential applications in the transportation of meat reduction, noise reduction, or the mismatch between processing effi­
and meat products to ensure meat quality and safety, reduce meat loss ciency and actual demand.
and waste, and improve the overall economic efficiency of the supply The current capacity of data mining is insufficient, making it urgent
chain. to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of data processing by
RFID, WSN, GPS, and other IoT sensing devices acquire and transmit applying new-generation information technologies such as deep
food-related information in real-time (e.g., inventory, environmental learning, distributed computing, and cloud computing to mine higher-
temperature, and humidity, geographical location) from each CCL link value information and provide technical support for the efficient and
and thereby allow information sharing between all links in the supply sustainable development of future meat CCL (Belaud, Prioux, Vialle, &
chain, which provides decision support for producers, operators, regu­ Sablayrolles, 2019; Sestino et al., 2020). Gholami-Zanjani, Klibi, Jaba­
lators, and consumers (Witjaksono et al., 2018). This approach has lameli, and Pishvaee (2021) built a risk-analysis model based on
solved the problems of information lag, information islands, and tem­ scenario-reduction methods and the Benders decomposition algorithm
perature violations in the supply chain, which affect supply chain su­ to analyze production information, storage and transportation infor­
pervision and decision-making, and effectively guarantees the quality mation, environmental information, and epidemic information, thereby
and safety of fresh meat. Based on RFID and temperature and humidity enhancing the resilience of the meat supply chain network to cope with
sensors, Alfian et al. (2020) designed a tracing system for perishable disruptions in the supply chain. The result was a significantly enhanced
food such as meat and vegetables. The system not only tracks the safety analysis of the meat supply chain and a guarantee of the meat

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Q.-S. Ren et al. Trends in Food Science & Technology 119 (2022) 133–151

Fig. 3. IoT framework.

Fig. 4. Example of IoT application (Witjaksono et al., 2018).

142
Q.-S. Ren et al.
quality and safety. These high-quality data services give it broad
application prospects in meat supply chain management. Singh, Kumari,
Malekpoor, and Mishra (2018) developed a new low-carbon system for
selecting a beef supplier based on big data and cloud computing and
using fuzzy analytic hierarchy, fuzzy TOPSIS, and fuzzy DEMATEL
methods to analyze beef production data and select low-cost and
high-quality beef suppliers. Moreover, CCL also integrates a large
amount of private information that can cause significant loss to stake­
holders if lost or stolen. Therefore, ensuring the privacy and security of
CCL data is another focus of current and future research. For example,
Azzi, Chamoun, and Sokhn (2019) used smart contract and consensus
mechanisms unique to blockchains to integrate blockchain technology
into the IoT food supply chain system and thereby improve the security
and reliability of data in each link of the supply chain.
4.2. Blockchain technology
Blockchain is a distributed ledger technology characterized by
decentralization, low cost, high efficiency, traceability, safety, and
reliability and can guarantee the integrity, transparency, and security of
all transactions and data (Sanka, Irfan, Huang, & Cheung, 2021).
Blockchain supports a distributed consensus mechanism through
smart-contract technology to create nontamperable transaction records
in the public ledger, allowing all participating entities to understand
every event and transaction and thereby establish a trust relationship
between entities (Azzi et al., 2019). Blockchain technology was first
applied to Bitcoin encryption to maintain transactions and avoid double
Fig. 5. Blockchain system (Feng et al., 2020).
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Trends in Food Science & Technology 119 (2022) 133–151
spending and then gradually extended to finance, securities, insurance,
food, and other fields (Niknejad, Ismail, Bahari, Hendradi, & Salleh,
2021).
In recent years, due to the lack of effective information traceability
methods for meat CCL, the serious problem of food-information error
and food-information tampering can lead to improper supervision of the
food-supply chain and causes frequent food-safety incidents. For
example, horse meat appeared in ground beef in Europe in 2013, over
100 000 tons of expired meat were seized in China in 2015, and 44% of
382 seafood products sampled in a Canadian survey in 2018 were
incorrectly labeled (Astill et al., 2019; Köhler & Pizzol, 2020). Demand
for traceability from businesses, governments, and consumers has
increased significantly due to the safety and quality issues of meat and
meat products. The existing meat CCL system mainly uses RFID, WSN,
GPS, and other sensing devices to monitor the supply chain in real-time,
providing valuable information for food-quality monitoring and trace­
ability (Feng, Wang, Duan, Zhang, & Zhang, 2020). However, the system
is based on a centralized client-server model, which is plagued by
centralization problems, allows data to be tampered with, and data ac­
curacy and safety cannot be ensured, which adversely affects meat
supply chain supervision and meat quality and safety.
Blockchain technology is an effective method to address the problem
of food fraud. Any CCL data, such as meat product composition, pro­
duction date, shelf-life, environmental temperature and humidity, and
real-time location, can be added to a blockchain system. Once these data
are entered, they are permanently stored and cannot be tampered with.
Operators, regulators, and consumers can query meat-related
Q.-S. Ren et al.
information in real-time through the Internet, which greatly increases
meat traceability and safety, see Fig. 5 (Galvez, Mejuto, &
Simal-Gandara, 2018). Sander, Semeijn, and Mahr (2018) evaluated the
problems of poor traceability and low transparency in the current meat
supply chain from the perspective of stakeholders (e.g., farmers, sup­
pliers, retailers, consumers) and pointed out that blockchain technology
improves the traceability and transparency of the meat supply chain to
prevent window dressing and information fraud. Furthermore, DNA
encoding technology ensures the accuracy and reliability of meat in­
formation in the entire supply chain, from farm to fork. Dutta, Choi,
Somani, and Butala (2020) pointed out that blockchain technology
safely connects all participants involved in the entire food supply chain,
from the place of production to the consumer, and uses smart-contract
technology and consensus mechanisms to verify the authenticity and
validity of data, which can help solve problems such as the leakage of
sensitive information, data tampering, and trust crises. Although a
blockchain ensures data security in the CCL system due to the
anti-tampering characteristics of the blockchain, the system has poor
fault tolerance, which requires that accurate data are input into the
system. Torky and Hassanein (2020) used RFID, WSN, near-field
communication, compressed sensing, and other information technolo­
gies to capture and transmit food-related information and verify the
acquired data through blockchain verification, which ensured the ac­
curacy and integrity of data acquisition and transmission.
Blockchain technology breaks the information barriers between
various business nodes by interconnecting them to provide efficient and
rapid data transmission throughout the entire meat CCL, which solves a
series of problems affecting CCL operation and management, such as
trust crises, information islands, and information tampering. As a result,
the entire system becomes more open and transparent, providing
stakeholders with safe and reliable information services.
Blockchain technology has broad application prospects and can build
a safer and more transparent meat CCL system. However, due to the
complexity of the blockchain itself, the technology is not yet mature, and
its application in meat CCL retains certain restrictions. For example, in
complex business scenarios, it is difficult to write all possible scenarios
in computer code in smart contracts, which affects the accuracy and
feasibility of the blockchain system. Saurabh and Dey (2021) pointed
out that government agencies and authorities formulate and publish
standard agreements for different products and provide the corre­
sponding guidelines to ensure minimum business standards. In addition,
given the longer life cycle and complex links of meat CCL, food-related
information is multisource heterogeneous and cannot resolve conven­
tional IoT data quality issues due to missing readings, sensor accuracy
and inconsistency, and data ambiguity, which increases the difficulty of
applying blockchain technology in meat CCL. To solve these problems,
Powell, Foth, Cao, and Natanelov (2021) developed the BeefLedger
platform to verify, encrypt, and store historical data in the beef supply
chain by integrating blockchain technology and IoT technology to
ensure the authenticity, reliability, and integrity of beef data, so con­
sumers can trace and verify beef information and improve the supply
chain efficiency by reducing information asymmetry between trans­
action parties. Moreover, contradictions and conflicts arise between
data privacy and transparency in the blockchain system, which
adversely affects the traceability and security of CCL. Therefore, enter­
prises, regulators, and governments are obliged to formulate relevant
laws, regulations, and policy standards to ensure the rationality and
security of data disclosure.
4.3. Digital twin technology
Digital twin technology is an innovative simulation technology that
virtualizes and digitally expresses actual physical entities to achieve
real-time mapping, interaction, integration, and data fusion between
physical entities and digital models. Real-time sensing, diagnosis, and
prediction of the state of physical entities can be implemented through
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technologies such as actual measurement, simulation, and data analysis,
following which the entities are optimized and controlled (Bárkányi,
Chován, Németh, & Abonyi, 2021; Verboven, Defraeye, Datta, & Nic­
olai, 2020). The framework of digital-twin technology mainly includes
two parts: physical entities and virtual entities. The entities and pro­
cesses of the digital world and the real world are connected through
sensor data, which accurately simulate all relevant processes. Based on
this simulation, the physical products are optimally regulated, see Fig. 6
(Kuffi et al., 2016).
As digital-twin technology progresses and develops, its application
range widens, so it is no longer limited to traditional manufacturing and
construction industries. Its use in modern meat CCL is also gradually
deepening to solve the problems of large decreases in meat quality, high
energy consumption, and high maintenance and optimization costs in
the supply chain (Wu, Beretta, Cronje, Hellweg, & Defraeye, 2019).
Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is the most widely used
digital-twin technology in meat CCL. Virtual digital models of physical
meat and meat products are established through CFD, and the digital
models are tested before physical products are applied to simulate the
real conditions under which the physical products evolve, allowing the
product design process to be optimized (Agalianos, Ponis, Aretoulaki,
Plakas, & Efthymiou, 2020). Defraeye et al. (2019) pointed out that, in
the whole food supply chain, ambient temperature is crucial to maintain
food quality, reduce food waste, and reduce energy consumption.
However, the existing meat CCL mainly monitors the ambient temper­
ature through temperature sensors but applies relatively few tempera­
ture controls for the meat itself, so it is difficult to determine the internal
mechanism that changes the meat temperature and how such variations
affect meat quality. Therefore, to improve and optimize the meat CCL
and minimize the impact of the supply chain environment on meat
quality, we must stringently analyze how the evolution of meat quality is
related to environmental changes that occur in the production and cir­
culation of fresh meat.
For meat, digital twins can be defined as a virtual representation of
meat to capture the degradation of the meat itself and the heat transfer
and mass transfer kinetics process related to the surrounding environ­
ment. Digital twin technology can effectively realize high-efficiency
digital modeling and simulations of fresh meat and then digitally
simulate and analyze how meat quality changes to optimize the supply
chain system, improve the efficiency of supply chain storage and
transportation, and reduce food loss.
Merai et al. (2019) digitized the cooling process of pork carcasses to
analyze the uniformity of the temperature distribution within pork
carcasses and the mechanism of heat and mass transfer. The results show
that appropriately increasing the initial temperature of pork carcasses
during transportation not only shortens the entire CCL by nearly 10 h
but also reduces the energy consumption and cost of pre-cooling, which
has important guiding significance for optimizing the meat-supply
chain. Cotrim, Coimbra, and Cotrim (2021) used CFD-based digital-­
twin technology to model and simulate the broiler carcass precooling
process, which can effectively predict the temperature distribution in­
side the carcass, thereby optimizing the precooling condition configu­
ration to improve precooling efficiency, shorten the precooling time,
and reduce energy consumption. Moreover, the digital model also
overcomes the shortcomings (e.g., long experiment period, high exper­
iment cost, and more meat waste) of traditional empirical experimental
methods. Verboven et al. (2020) point out that the multifield coupling
cross-scale model based on CFD digital-twin technology improves the
overall analysis of the food-supply chain rather than focusing on a
certain food, refrigerated room, or dryer. By revealing the physical
phenomena of fluid flow, heat and mass transfer, mechanical deforma­
tion, and others in the supply chain, the variation in food quality can be
explored and the food supply chain can be optimized to minimize the
loss of food quality, reduce energy consumption, and improve economic
benefits.
As an alternative to physical experiments, the CFD model based on
Q.-S. Ren et al.
Fig. 6. Digital twin system (Cotrim et al., 2021; Kuffi et al., 2016; Wu et al., 2019).
the finite-element or finite-volume method can simulate the spatio-
temporal distribution of temperature and humidity in the meat storage
environment or in the meat itself, which allows us to analyze how var­
iations in temperature affect meat quality on different spatial scales.
This makes it possible to analyze temperature uniformity, heat con­
vection, and internal heat transfer, which can optimize meat cooling
conditions and improve the quality and safety of meat. Kuffi et al. (2016)
created a CFD model to analyze how various cooling parameters (e.g.,
initial temperature, initial wind speed, beef stacking, or hanging mode)
affect the cooling rate of beef carcasses, their temperature uniformity,
and variations in meat quality during cold storage to optimizing the
cooling operating conditions, thereby improving the efficiency of beef
cooling. Hoang, Lovatt, Olatunji, and Carson (2020) constructed a
three-dimensional CFD model based on three-dimensional computed
tomography images of white-streaked chickens. They then simulated the
temperature distribution of bulk-packed whole chickens during
forced-air freezing and studied how operating conditions affect the
cooling rate and cooling heterogeneity of white chickens during pre­
cooling to optimize operating conditions and avoid damage due to
chicken freezing.
Therefore, the use of digital-twin technology to simulate, predict,
and perceive the spatial and temporal distribution of temperature and
humidity and the evolution of meat quality in meat CCL allows us to
implement a cross-scale intelligent perception of meat quality through
precise digital control. This has important practical significance for
improving the quality of meat and optimizing the efficiency of the
supply chain in the meat CCL. However, in complex meat CCL, digital-
twin data management has serious problems such as poor data secu­
rity and low management efficiency, which affects data storage, data
access, data sharing, and data authenticity. Putz, Dietz, Empl, and Per­
nul (2021) managed the entire supply chain data (i.e., distributed
storage, access control, and real-time dynamic information tracking) by
using blockchain technologies such as smart contracts and consensus
mechanisms to satisfy the decentralization and sharing requirements of
digital-twin data while ensuring the privacy, integrity, and reliability of
the data. Therefore, it is an important research hotspot is that
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integrating blockchain technology and digital-twin technology in the
meat CCL for improve the supply chain security and management
efficiency.
5. Meat quality prediction and control
The models of fresh-meat quality and shelf-life prediction allow us to
evaluate the current food quality status and predict the remaining shelf-
life and provide decision support services for stakeholders (e.g., in­
ventory management, promotion strategy formulation, purchase de­
cisions). However, current research along these lines is mostly based on
constant conditions, such as constant temperature and constant hu­
midity, and does not fully consider how dynamic environmental con­
ditions, such as temperature breaks, affect the quality and shelf-life of
fresh meat products. Therefore, to effectively improve the accuracy,
applicability, and reliability of the model, the quality assessment and
shelf-life prediction of fresh meat under dynamic environmental con­
ditions have become an important direction of future research, with the
goal being to improve quality, decision-making, and control.
5.1. Model for predicting shelf-life
Food shelf-life refers to the maximum storage time for food under
appropriate environmental conditions with the premise of ensuring food
quality and safety (Kim et al., 2020; Spada, Conte, & Nobile, 2018). The
shelf-life of fresh meat is the external embodiment of the meat quality
and is closely related to consumer food safety, consumption preferences,
and acceptability. It is the most important product information for
consumers and retailers and, to a large extent, determines consumer
purchasing decisions, market prices, and sales volume. However, the
shelf-life printed on the label of fresh meat is usually given by the
manufacturer according to experience or assuming constant storage
conditions but does not fully consider how variations in environmental
conditions during storage and transportation affect the actual food
shelf-life. Thus, it cannot accurately reflect the real food quality, which
degrades food safety to a certain extent.
Q.-S. Ren et al.
Bruckner, Albrecht, Petersen, and Kreyenschmidt (2013) pointed out
that the shelf-life of fresh meat mainly depends on the initial colony
number and temperature control, with larger initial colony numbers and
temperature fluctuations promoting food spoilage and shortening food
shelf-life. Mathematical growth models of microorganisms can be used
to predict the shelf-life of pork and poultry under a dynamic temperature
environment and provides decision support for meat CCL operation and
management. The average kinetic temperature is used as a single tem­
perature to represent how a varying temperature history over a given
time affects food quality. Such models can more accurately, rapidly, and
reliably predict the shelf-life of fresh meat products under different
temperature conditions, which helps to optimize sales, reduce economic
losses, and provide consumers with more reliable purchasing decision
support.
Yimenu et al. (2019) built a model to predict the remaining shelf-life
based on the average kinetic temperature and applied it to predict the
remaining shelf-life of packaged chicken given any storage and trans­
portation temperature in the range of 0–15 ◦ C. The tool proves to be
effective for quality control and shelf-life management in the fresh
chicken supply chain. Kim et al. (2020) proposed a method for point
estimation and interval estimation of food shelf-life based on average
kinetic temperature, minimum temperature, and maximum temperature
to make real-time predictions of the remaining shelf-life of packaged
chicken and of low-temperature pasteurized milk under different tem­
perature conditions. Their results show that the prediction model is
accurate and reliable.
The determination of meat shelf-life usually relies on the compre­
hensive research and assessment of sensory evaluation, microbial
quantity, and physical and chemical indicators, such as TTI labels based
on color change, which implies a long prediction cycle, high cost, and
low accuracy, and thus cannot determine in a timely manner the
remaining shelf-life. Based on the interdisciplinary integration of
microbiology, mathematics, statistics, and information science, multi-
quality kinetic models have been developed to express the relationship
between food quality parameters and shelf-life, including the Arrhenius
model, the Gompertz model, the Logistic model, and the Baranyi model
(see Table 6).
Table 6
Model to predict food shelf-life.
Principle Mathematical model Parameter
SA Model: Weibull distribution Sensory indicator
model.
Remark: The prediction results are susceptible to subjective evaluation.
QDA Model: Q10 model, first-level Physicochemical indicator
model, second-level model,
third-level model, etc.
Remark: The model is simple and applicable; the Arrhenius equation is
usually used to describe the effect of temperature on quality change, but
it is only applicable to a small temperature range.
MGA Model: First-level model, Biological indicator
second-level model, third-level
model, etc.
Remark: Closer to the nature of food quality changes; besides
temperature, pH value and water activity are also considered.
BDA Model: Decision tree, random, Comprehensive indicators (e.g.,
forest, artificial neural network, sensory indicator, physicochemical
support vector machine, deep indicator, biological indicator)
learning, etc.
Remark: Small system error, self-learning ability, strong applicability.
Notes: SA: Statistical analysis, QDA: quality dynamics analysis, MQA: Microbial
growth analysis, BDA: Big data analysis. The first-level models describe the
quality parameters as a function of time. These include the Gompertz model, the
Baranyi model, and the Logistic model. The second-level models describe how
environmental factors (e.g., temperature, humidity, water activity) affect the
parameters of the first-level model. These include the Arrhenius model, the
three-level model, the shelf-life-prediction model (i.e., the integrated first- and
second-level models).
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As discussed above, the freshness and shelf-life of meat products can
be quantified through mathematical modeling, and, once the parameters
of the mathematical model are known, it can be used to predict the
freshness and shelf-life under different storage and transportation con­
ditions. Dabadé et al. (2015) used mathematical models such as the
exponential model, the Ratkowsky model, and the Arrhenius model to
predict the shelf-life of fresh tropical shrimp under different
storage-temperature conditions. A root-mean-square error analysis
shows that the Arrhenius model produces the most accurate prediction
of shelf-life and reports that Pseudomonas is the main bacteria causing
the spoilage of shrimp meat under cold storage conditions. In other
work, Bruckner et al. (2013) used the Gompertz model and the Arrhe­
nius model as the main and secondary models, respectively, to construct
a mathematical growth model of Pseudomonas and predict the shelf-life
of fresh pork and chicken. They report that a small initial amount of the
microorganism and a stable and suitable temperature environment
ensure meat quality and maximize shelf-life. However, no shelf-life
prediction model is currently available for all types of foods, mainly
because different food types have different key quality evaluation in­
dicators, such as the TVB-N content for fish or the number of Pseudo­
monas for chicken. Thus, choosing appropriate quality indicators
according to the characteristics of food and the spoilage phenomena is
important for building shelf-life prediction models that apply to dy­
namic environmental conditions and that are accurate and reliable. This
is a key direction that would allow future research to enhance the
versatility of such models.
Powell, Ratkowsky, and Tamplin (2015) pointed out that the growth
of microorganisms caused by temperature fluctuations was the main
reason for the spoilage of Atlantic salmon. The microbial mathematical
growth model based on the Belehradek model can evaluate and predict
Atlantic Salmon freshness and shelf-life under dynamic environmental
temperature conditions (0–10 ◦ C), thereby providing decision support for
quality control in the supply chain. Tang et al. (2013) used sensory
analysis, electronic nose analysis, and a mathematical growth model for
aerobic microorganisms to predict the shelf-life of chilled pork under
different temperature conditions. The research revealed no significant
difference in the prediction accuracy of the three models under
constant-temperature conditions. However, under dynamic-temperature
conditions, the mathematical growth model of aerobic microorganisms
provided a more accurate prediction of shelf-life. Moreover, the current
shelf-life prediction models are mostly mathematical models based on
single quality indicators (e.g., pH, TVB-N content, Pseudomonas number).
Furthermore, food-quality indicators interact with each other in CCL,
leading to multicollinearity. Therefore, a single-index shelf-life model
provides relatively poor prediction accuracy and does not suffice to sup­
port decision-making for enterprises or consumers, and the multi-index
shelf-life prediction has become the key topic and main challenge of
future CCL research.
The integration and development of new technologies such as big
data, cloud computing, machine learning, and artificial intelligence
provide new methods for constructing a multi-index food shelf-life
prediction model and also form the main direction and key content of
future research into shelf-life prediction models. Barbon et al. (2016)
built a computational, intelligent model based on intelligent algorithms
such as k-nearest neighbor, decision tree, random forest, support vector
machine, or multi-layer perceptual neural networks to comprehensively
analyze the quality indicators of fresh pork (e.g., pH, meat color, TVB-N
content, water-holding capacity) and predict its freshness and shelf-life.
5.2. Intelligent decisions
CCL includes multiple links such as production, processing, storage,
transportation, and sales. Variations in environmental conditions such
as temperature, humidity, and gas concentrations in any cold-chain link
consistently lead to food spoiling and shorten the shelf-life, producing a
significant challenge to supply chain operation and management (Alfian
Q.-S. Ren et al.
et al., 2020). Therefore, a first necessity is to strictly monitor the storage
and transportation environment in the cold chain, especially the tem­
perature of each link, to avoid having a temperature interruption affect
the overall quality and safety of the fresh meat. Second, a dynamic
environmental-decision-support system should be built based on the
quality assessment model and shelf-life prediction model to analyze the
relationship between temperature variations, quality loss, and the actual
shelf-life in CCL. This would provide decision-support services for en­
terprise operation management and consumer purchase decisions,
which is also the core purpose of optimizing and improving the quality
and safety monitoring of the food supply chain.
Traditional decision support systems are mostly built based on TTI
and RFID technologies, which indicate changes in meat quality through
changes in the color of TTI labels, predict the remaining shelf-life, and
combine RFID label information (e.g., food origin, processing technol­
ogy, environmental temperature, environmental humidity) to allow the
evaluation of the edibility and safety of the meat. These techniques can
also be used to provide decision support for enterprises, retailers, and
consumers (e.g., transport-route optimization, inventory management,
price formulation, purchase decision). Óskarsdóttir and Oddsson (2019)
based the traceability decision-support framework on barcodes, TTI,
RFID, WSN, and other technologies to help supply-chain participants
choose the optimal tracking scheme, thus ensuring product quality and
safety. Consumers can evaluate fish freshness based on the TTI label
color and can scan the barcode for information on the source and pro­
cessing of the fish. The integrated application of technologies such as the
IoT, big data, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence has promoted
the integration of resources and information, optimized and improved
the decision-making and control capability of the supply chain, and
further improved the informatization service level of CCL (Mir­
anda-Ackerman & Colín-Chávez, 2019). Tsang et al. (2018) built a cold
chain IoT risk monitoring system based on IoT technology, cloud
computing, and fuzzy logic algorithms and monitored the cold chain
environment in real-time to assess food quality and occupational safety
risks and give timely warnings. It lays the technical foundation for
constructing an intelligent CCL management platform.
5.3. Intelligent control
In the production and processing stage, the optimization of the
processing technology (such as improved pre-cooling efficiency) and
packaging methods (such as AP, IP, and GP) maintains or improves the
meat quality, extends the shelf-life, increases the sales cycle, and im­
proves economic efficiency. To guarantee food quality and safety, an
intelligent monitoring and early warning system for the supply chain
was constructed in the storage stage from the IoT, big data, the block
chain, and other technologies to respond to variations in environmental
conditions and ensure that meat is stored under appropriate environ­
mental conditions. In the transportation stage, intelligent algorithms
served to intelligently optimize the transportation path to minimize
meat corruption during transportation and reduce transportation time to
extend meat-sales time, thereby increasing economic benefits. In the
sales stage, enterprises and retailers manage inventory, set prices, and
plan sales according to the meat shelf-life to improve economic benefits
and reduce meat loss and waste, and consumers evaluate food quality
based on the meat shelf-life to ensure edibility and safety. Kassahun
et al. (2014) built a fully transparent system for a meat supply chain
based on EPCIS standards and cloud computing technology to provide
consumers with real-time food information, such as nutritional content,
origin, and shelf-life. Tsang et al. (2018) designed an intelligent
route-planning system based on IoT technology and configured a WSN to
monitor the entire supply chain in real-time to ensure the stability of the
environment temperature during transportation. They furthermore
combined food types, operating costs, distribution time, and other fac­
tors and used a genetic algorithm to intelligently optimize the distri­
bution path, reduce transportation costs, and reduce transportation
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losses.
The in-depth development of a supply chain intelligent decision-
making control system has promoted information transparency, group
decision-making, and intelligent control of meat CCL, which benefits
meat shelf-life prediction, environmental temperature control, market
forecasts, logistics distribution network planning, and inventory man­
agement. However, the existing decision-control system, based on the
meat quality assessment model and meat shelf-life prediction model,
only optimizes supply chain storage, transportation, and sales processes
to maintain or improve the food quality and extend the shelf-life,
without solving the problems of high energy consumption and envi­
ronmental pollution. To ensure the overall benefits of meat CCL,
conscious efforts should be made to improve and optimize CCL, not only
in terms of improving economic benefits but also in terms of environ­
mental benefits and social benefits (such as reducing energy consump­
tion and environmental pollution). The goal is to develop a low-carbon
supply chain, which is also the main direction of future research.
Mohebalizadehgashti, Zolfagharinia, and Amin (2020) built a green,
multi-level meat supply chain consisting of farms, abattoirs, retailers,
and consumers based on a multi-objective mixed-integer linear pro­
gramming model to balance economic benefits and environmental
benefits, and used the decision tree algorithm to deal with the impact of
uncertain parameters on supply chain quality, income, environment,
and energy consumption to help decision-makers choose the best
network design scheme. Singh et al. (2018) built a framework for
selecting low-carbon beef suppliers based on big data and cloud
computing. By analyzing information on beef suppliers (such as green­
house gas emissions), they were able to intelligently select the optimal
low-carbon beef suppliers to ensure high-quality beef and reduce envi­
ronmental pressure due to the supply chain.
Second, the quality of the meat supply chain data is evaluated and
optimized by using information technologies such as IoT, big data, and
the blockchain to ensure real-time, accurate, and reliable supply-chain
data. Such an approach is desirable because a lack of data quality con­
trol may cause the supply-chain managers to make incorrect decisions
based on inaccurate data. Along these lines, Gogou, Katsaros, Derens,
Alvarez, and Taoukis (2015) developed a web-based cold-chain data­
base platform to collect and manage real-time temperature data for the
entire cold chain to optimize and improve the weak links in the supply
chain. They also used cold chain predictor software to predict the
shelf-life of different products. Azzi et al. (2019) used blockchain tech­
nology to implement distributed storage and managed supply chain data
to ensure data integrity, accuracy, and security, thus providing higher
quality data services for an intelligent decision-control system.
6. Future trends
6.1. Low-carbon supply chain
As global warming intensifies, tackling climate change has become a
major global issue. In response, low-carbon development has become a
new trend that conforms to the times. The main characteristics of a low-
carbon supply chain are low energy consumption, low carbon emissions,
low environmental pollution, and eco-friendliness (Han et al., 2021).
Food waste caused by food spoilage is a primary source of greenhouse
gas emissions and may occur in all links of CCL (e.g., production, pro­
cessing, storage, transportation, sales, edible). A variety of promising
technologies that directly or indirectly maintain or improve food quality
extend the shelf-life and thereby produce a low-carbon supply chain.
These technologies include optimizing packaging to slow the deterio­
ration of packaged food while reducing the environmental pressure
caused by packaging materials, and improving the temperature and
humidity monitoring and early warning systems of the supply chain to
ensure that the food is always stored in a suitable temperature and hu­
midity environment (Chowdhury & Morey, 2019).
Second, supply-chain energy consumption has also exacerbated
Q.-S. Ren et al.
environmental pollution. In the context of economic globalization, the
growth of long-distance cross-border food transportation has increased
energy consumption and carbon emissions. Achieving low-carbon CCL
requires not only the optimization and upgrade of all links of the supply
chain to maintain precise control of the supply chain and avoid food
spoilage due to temperature or humidity variations but also the support
of government, enterprise, and consumers to protect the limited natural
resources and environment. Enhancing the competitiveness of enter­
prises no longer means focusing solely on economic benefits, but now
must consider multiple goals such as economic benefits, environmental
benefits, and social benefits to achieve an environmentally friendly
economic-development model. Such a strategy is also applicable for the
food supply chain of the future.
However, at present, technologies such as high-efficiency re­
frigerants and intelligent refrigeration systems remain immature and
constitute the main bottleneck restricting the development of low-
carbon supply chains. Moreover, the national carbon emission policy
and environmental policy of countries also strongly affect the develop­
ment of supply chains, and the formulation of relevant policies is an
important factor for promoting the development of low-carbon supply
chains. Given the promotion of the low-carbon policy, enterprises must
comply with low-carbon development requirements in CCL operations
and management. Furthermore, improving food technology, optimizing
marketing strategy, and optimizing supply chain structure and infra­
structure construction to reduce energy consumption, food spoilage, and
food waste will reduce the carbon footprint to the level required of a
low-carbon supply chain.
6.2. Smart supply chain
The CCL of fresh meat has many links and is complex to operate and
manage. The interruption of any link (such as a temperature interrup­
tion) accelerates food spoilage and shortens the shelf-life. However, the
multi-source online information of the current CCL (e.g., environment,
quality, location) is hindered by poor perception, poor stability, high
error rate, poor dynamic perception of product quality, and slow supply-
chain digitalization, which double as the main reasons for poor supply
chain supervision and low consumer satisfaction. With the continuous
development and in-depth integration of new-generation information
technology (e.g., IoT, big data, cloud computing, artificial intelligence),
CCL is driving towards a more digital, intelligent, and efficient future,
which should take the form of a smart supply chain that improves on the
comprehensive service level of the supply chain. This is a primary
research direction for future food supply chain system innovation
(Sestino et al., 2020).
A smart supply chain system significantly facilitates supply-chain
management by providing high-quality intelligent services to govern­
ments, enterprises, and consumers, such as real-time information
sharing, real-time visual display of quality and shelf life, dynamic and
intelligent temperature and humidity control, dynamic and intelligent
routing optimization, intelligent fault warning and control, and market
price monitoring. Therefore, many countries attach great importance to
the development of smart supply chains and have created the relevant
policies to support its development and promote the application of smart
technology in CCL, thereby improving industrial efficiency and benefits.
In 2020, the China No. 1 central document pointed out that China should
increase the construction of modern and intelligent CCL systems and
accelerate the construction of modern CCL industrial parks. In another
example, the Cabinet Office of Japan approved in 2017 “the Compre­
hensive Logistics Policy Outline for the Fiscal Year 2017–2020,” which
vigorously promotes the application of artificial intelligence, big data,
IoT, and other intelligent technologies in the logistics industry. In 2018,
the United States released the “Strategy for American Leadership in
Advanced Manufacturing,” which aims to enhance industrial competi­
tiveness by building a more intelligent industrial logistics system, pro­
moting the sound development of the logistics industry, and improving
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customer service. In 2019, Germany released the “National Industrial
Strategy 2030,” which incorporates smart logistics construction into the
national future industrial development plan (Liu, Shanthikumar, Lee, Li,
& Zhou, 2021).
However, in comparison with developed countries, the CCL infra­
structure in developing countries remains relatively undeveloped and is
characterized by diversity, inhomogeneity, and lag, which to a large
extent limits the application of cold-chain standardization and related
intelligent information technology and seriously restricts the global­
ization of the development of smart supply chains. In addition, the lack
of composite and comprehensive talents is also one of the main bottle­
necks restricting the transformation from traditional supply chains to
smart supply chains because smart supply chains usually involve the
cross-application of multiple disciplines and multiple fields. The culti­
vation of composite and comprehensive talents has therefore become a
key driving force for the innovation and upgrade of CCL.
The integration of university resources will also play an important
role in promoting the training of compound or comprehensive CCL tal­
ents in the future; meanwhile, the relevant national education policies
are also an important guarantee for training compound or comprehen­
sive talents, thereby sending more talents to work on smart supply
chains and promoting the development of a low-carbon, intelligent
supply chain to drive rapid economic growth.
6.3. Humanized service and flexible management
Humanized service is a people-oriented service concept that bends to
the needs of consumers, provides quality services for consumers, im­
proves consumer satisfaction, and promotes product sales while
increasing the economic and social benefits of enterprises. The contin­
uous improvement of economic and consumption levels has led to
higher demand for food quality and safety, especially regarding
perishable meat. Consumers now scrupulously judge the food quality
and shelf-life when purchasing to ensure safe, edible food, which re­
quires quantifying the food quality and providing a visual display to
support the consumers in their purchasing decisions. Moreover, given
the frequent occurrence of food safety incidents (e.g., poisonous milk
powder, zombie meat, the horsemeat scandal), food safety has come to
the forefront of the concerns of consumers, enterprises, and relevant
government agencies (Astill et al., 2019). This has created an urgent
need for a food supply chain that provides transparent services to
stakeholders, with a clear view and traceability of food information in
real-time (e.g., food source, food composition, food processing
technology).
In addition, with the development of the e-commerce food industry,
more and more consumers are buying fresh meat through e-commerce
platforms, which requires not only fresher meat but also implies a higher
demand for distribution services (e.g., fixed-point delivery, timed de­
livery, quantitative delivery). In the environment created by the current
Covid-19 epidemic, consumers demand personalized contactless de­
livery, which requires additional delivery equipment and temporary
storage facilities that can ensure a low-temperature storage environment
for meat. An accurate grasp of consumer demand and the ability to
provide high-quality humanized services has thus become an important
driving force to enhance enterprise competitiveness, which is a key to
innovation in, and the transformation of traditional supply chains to
reach the goal of optimized operation management and service.
Therefore, given the demands of consumers, coordinating the food
supply chain upstream and downstream to provide consumers with
high-quality humanized services has become another key factor for the
development of the food supply chain. Furthermore, the current CCL
management method is relatively singular and mostly relies on process-
oriented, institutionalized, profit-oriented strategies, with a lack of
“humanization,” which is also an important factor restraining any
improvement in the efficiency of CCL. Flexible management implements
“humanized management” by comprehensively analyzing information
Q.-S. Ren et al.
from all stakeholders, which allows it to fully mobilize the production
enthusiasm of supply-chain participants and thereby improve the effi­
ciency and benefit of CCL. This is also the main direction in which future
CCL management will evolve.
7. Conclusion
This paper comprehensively reviews the current research status,
deficiencies, development trends, and challenges of CCL from the
viewpoints of meat packaging, meat-quality evaluation and monitoring,
and meat-quality prediction and control. This result discussed herein
should improve the understanding of researchers and practitioners of
state-of-the-art CCL technology for improving meat quality, ensuring
meat safety, and improving economic and environmental benefits.
Food packaging can maintain meat quality, extend shelf-life, and
maintain the sensory properties of the product, thereby improving
consumer satisfaction and increasing economic and environmental
benefits. However, the stability and safety of active substances and
packaging costs limit the wide adoption of such packaging. Using
nanotechnology to integrate the advantages of AP, IP, and GP in com­
posite packaging will contribute further to maintaining food quality and
safety and will reduce packaging costs, which is also a key research
direction for future food packaging. However, the health and safety
characteristics of many nanomaterials remain not fully understood, the
toxic effects on humans, animals and environment are unpredictable,
and there are potential application risks, such as intracellular damage
and pulmonary and vascular disease caused by the migration of some
nanoparticles to meat (Mihindukulasuriya & Lim, 2014). Therefore, a
risk assessment is required before using nanomaterials in meat pack­
aging, and detailed toxicological analysis should be used to clarify the
safety risks for the consumers. Furthermore, legislators need to formu­
late relevant laws and regulations to regulate the use of nanomaterials in
meat packaging and ensure the edibility and safety of food, securing the
acceptability of consumers.
Meanwhile, information technologies are improving the perception
of the dynamic CCL environment and the concomitant dynamic food
quality, improving the ability of upstream and downstream coordination
and supervision of CCL and information sharing. However, the high cost
and low profit of digitized CCL infrastructure construction significantly
dampens the enthusiasm of enterprises for infrastructure transformation
and upgrading and are the main factors restricting the development of
digitized CCL.
The shelf-life is another important index with which to evaluate meat
freshness and is closely related to food safety, consumption preference,
and acceptability. Optimizing the key nodes of CCL through shelf-life
prediction should maintain meat quality and safety, lengthen the sales
cycle, and improve the overall efficiency. Simultaneously, CCL is opti­
mized and upgraded by using intelligent decision-making optimization
control systems to reduce energy consumption, cost, and environmental
impact. In addition, meat-quality management includes not only the
cold chain links such as processing, storage, transportation, and sales,
but even the after-sales stage, such as the management of meat refrig­
eration in domestic refrigerators.
In the future, CCL must miniaturize its carbon footprint, become
smart, and offer humanized service and balanced development between
economic benefits, environmental benefits, and social benefits. Gov­
ernment carbon-emission policies, environmental policies, and national
intelligent strategic deployment should accelerate this process.
Furthermore, the cultivation of compound or comprehensive talents in
educational institutes is also conducive to optimizing the industrial
structure, operation management mode, and service mode of CCL.
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the Scientific and technological inno­
vation capacity building project of Beijing Academy of Agricultural and
149
Trends in Food Science & Technology 119 (2022) 133–151
Forestry Sciences (KJCX20210408), Young Investigator Fund of Beijing
Academy of Agricultural and Forestry Sciences (QNJJ202016), Research
and Development Projects in Key Areas of Guangdong Province, China
(2019B020225001).
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