Abstract: In this study, we examined the changes in the relative amounts of three chemical forms of myoglobin, deoxymyoglobin (DeoxyMb), oxymyoglobin?(OxyMb) and metmyoglobin (MetMb), in fresh beef meat stored at 4 ℃. For this purpose, one-dimensional Raman spectral data were acquired and analyzed by two-dimensional correlation analysis using 2D-shige software. The optimal formulas for the relative amounts of three chemical forms of Mb were DeoxyMb/% = (?0.305 5x + 19.570) × 100; OxyMb/% = (?2.933 9x + 154.17) × 100; and MetMb/% = (1.574 3x ? 14.369) × 100, respectively. The prediction efficiency of these formulas was in the decreasing order: MetMb > DeoxyMb > OxyMb. When the Raman frequency was 1 033–1 248 cm-1, the root mean square error of prediction of MetMb was minimum, only 4.76%. Therefore, it is feasible to determine the relative amount of myoglobin using Raman spectroscopy.

Key words: Raman spectroscopy, two-dimensional correlation spectroscopy, chilled beef, myoglobin