Table 1.

Comparison of meat quality control technologies

Sensor/Indicator	Advantages	Dis-advantages
Time temperature indicator	Easy to be integrated into packaging	No information about quality of
	system, can be checked by naked eye,	food, must be conditioned before use.
	cheap and economical, can be measured	no contact with food
	by electronic devices
Gas indicator	Can be integrated into the packaging	No information about gas concentration
	films, can be checked by naked eye,	attached inside the package
	cheap and economical,	and its chemical dye may
	can be measured by electronic devices.	interfere in food quality.
Freshness indicator	Sensitive, can be checked by naked eye,	False negatives results, attached
	cheap and economical, can be	inside the package which may
	measured by electronic devices.	interfere in food quality.
Biosensors	Can be integrated into the packaging films,	Can not detect low concentrated contamination,
	can be checked by naked eye,	may have chemical effect on the food.
	cheap and economical, can be measured by
	electronic devices, pathogen
	and microbial detection.
Gas sensors	Sensitive, Can be integrated into the	Nil
	packaging films, high spatial resolution,
	can be checked by naked eye and optical devices,
	not affected by heat, electromagnetic and stirring.
E-nose	Accurate since uses an array of	Expensive for packaging and
	sensors, can detect many kind of	commercial purpose.
	volatile compounds, can be integrated
	into pattern recognition and
	decision making systems.
Fluorescence-base (oxygen)	Sensitive, concentration of oxygen	can not be checked by naked eye.
	can be checked by optical device, can
	be used in headspace or in liquid, fast
	and reliable.
RFID tags	Accurate, Can be integrated into barcodes,	The signal can be lost, expensive to
	wireless technology, reading multiple	be commercialized.
	products at once, fast.