Abstract: The decline in meat freshness can result in resource waste and even pose high risks to human health. Therefore, development of effective evaluation technologies for meat freshness is crucial for ensuring food safety. Nanozymes, as a new generation of artificial enzymes, offer several advantages, including convenient preparation, low cost, high stability, and robust catalytic performance. Consequently, various nanozymes have been extensively applied in sensors for evaluating meat freshness. This paper first systematically summarizes five representative nanozymes and the signal generation mechanisms of different types of sensors (e.g. colorimetric, fluorescent, electrochemical, and surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) sensors) from the perspective of signal transduction in nanozyme-based freshness sensors. Furthermore, it focuses on the application of various nanozyme-based sensors in evaluating meat freshness. Finally, the challenges facing the application of nanozymes in detecting meat freshness are discussed. Our aim is to provide new ideas for advancing the development of nanozyme-based sensing technology for the detection of meat freshness.

Key words: freshness; nanozymes; meat products; sensor-based detection; food safety