Abstract:

Monitoring food spoilage (FS) has been one of the important tasks in the food industry. Exploring a fast and highsensitivity
detection method for FS is extremely important. This study aimed to explore the relationship between temperature
and the degree of FS during the process of FS. Fresh pork was used as samples and laser was used as the external heat
source to enhance the differences in thermal expression. An infrared camera was used to detect the temperature variation
rate of the samples. The pH values of the samples were measured and used as the monitoring indicator of FS degree. The
thermophysical parameters of both fresh and spoiled samples were measured using differential scanning calorimetry. The
variations in the surface temperature of samples were simulated using the numerical method according to the heat transfer
equation. Finally, the relationship between the FS degrees and temperature variation rates of samples was modeled. The
results of this study can be useful in exploiting a convenient and low-cost FS detection technique.

Key words: food spoilage detection, laser heating, infrared thermography, numerical simulation