Abstract: Consumers always use spoilage odor emitted from meat as an important indicator to judge the freshness of meat. The microbiota and microbial metabolic pathways in chilled meat vary under different packaging conditions, leading to the release of volatile odor compounds during storage, which directly determines the off-odors and spoilage degree of chilled meat. Thus, qualitative and quantitative analysis of volatile organic compounds in packaged meat is significant for understanding the process of meat spoilage. In this article, we review microbial community succession and the changes of typical volatile compounds in chilled beef, pork and lamb, as well as tray packaged, vacuum packaged, and modified atmosphere packaged poultry meat, with a special focus on the dominant microbial populations that produce spoilage odors under specific packaging conditions. The formation mechanisms of these off-odors are discussed based on substrate utilization and metabolic pathways, and the existing methods for their detection are also summarized. We expect this review will provide some useful information for controlling the formation of spoilage odors in meat products and monitoring the shelf-life of packaged chilled meat using volatile biomarkers.

Key words: packaging; chilled meat; microbial spoilage; volatile odor compounds; odor detection