Volatile fingerprinting and analytical strategies for raw meat authentication in processed meat products: a comprehensive review

Authentication of processed meat products has become increasingly important amid rising concerns about food fraud, species substitution, and traceability in global food supply chains. Conventional biomolecular approaches, including DNA- and protein-based techniques, often exhibit reduced reliability in thermally processed products because heating induces fragmentation and denaturation of target molecules. In this context, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) have emerged as promising alternative markers for meat authentication because many volatile signatures remain detectable or are enhanced following thermal processing. This review provides a comprehensive overview of VOC-based authentication strategies for processed meat products. The biochemical origins of meat VOCs, including lipid oxidation, amino acid degradation, Maillard reactions, and thermal decomposition pathways, are critically discussed in relation to species-specific volatile fingerprint formation. In addition, major analytical technologies such as headspace solid-phase microextraction coupled with gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (HS-SPME-GC-MS), electronic noses, ion mobility spectrometry, and portable sensing systems are comparatively evaluated. The review further examines the growing role of chemometrics, machine learning, and explainable artificial intelligence in VOC-based classification, biomarker discovery, and predictive authentication. Finally, current challenges associated with biological variability, additive interference, analytical standardization, and industrial scalability are discussed, along with future perspectives for developing rapid, robust, and real-time meat authentication systems.