Polarimetric and spectral imaging approach for meat quality control and characterization of biological tissues

In this chapter, different experimental and analytical methodologies were applied to investigate light-tissue interaction and analyze optical and polarization properties over time. The obtained results were utilized in biomedical and food science applications. In this chapter, soft biological tissues (pork samples) were selected as a biological tissue due to their similarity to human tissue. First, the relative spectral changes of absorbance were studied by applying two different custom-built configurations. A Monte Carlo modeling and principal component analysis (PCA) method were applied further to the absorbance dataset to provide thorough studies for a spectroscopic approach. Second, a novel application of Mueller matrix (MM) imaging polarimetry was pioneered to visualize the dynamics of the tissue polarization properties over time with a custom-built Mueller matrix imaging polarimeter (MMIP). Frequency distribution histograms (FDHs) and the changes in the statistical moments of the MM elements were analyzed over time to provide qualitative and quantitative information of the tissue polarization properties. Finally, a new Stokes polarimetry was introduced to examine optically thin histological sections from optically anisotropic biological tissues with different morphological structures.

In summary, in spectroscopic and imaging polarimetry approaches, prominent changes in optical properties of the examined soft biological tissues were discriminated over time. The obtained results are promising in the development of a novel non-destructive tool for monitoring biological tissues for application in biomedical applications and the food industry. The Stokes polarimetry method can provide a comparative analysis of different polarimetric techniques and prove the diagnostic potential of Stokes correlometry of pathological changes in the orientation phase structure of biological tissues.