Postmortem aging is a value-adding process and has been extensively practiced by the global meat industry for years. The rate and extent of aging impacts on meat quality characteristics are greatly affected by various biochemical/physiological changes occurring during the pre-rigor phase through post-rigor aging processes. This should also mean that the positive aging impacts on eating quality attributes can be further maximized through establishing specific post-harvest aging strategies. In this review, we propose the smart-aging concept, which is to develop innovative template strategies through identifying optimal aging regimes to maximize positive aging impacts on meat quality and value. The concept requires a good understanding of the physical, biochemical and post-harvest factors that affect the aging of beef. This knowledge coupled with the ability to non-invasively determine muscle composition early postmortem will create opportunities to tailor the process of muscle conversion to meat and the subsequent aging processes to deliver meat with consistent and improved eating qualities and functionality.

尸体后老化是一个增值过程，并且已经被全球肉类行业广泛采用了多年。老化前的速度和程度对肉质特性的影响在很大程度上受到在严格前阶段到严格后老化过程中发生的各种生化/生理变化的影响。这还意味着通过制定具体的收获后老化策略，可以进一步最大程度地提高对饮食质量属性的正面老化影响。在本文中，我们提出了智能老化的概念，即通过确定最佳的老化方案来开发创新的模板策略，以最大程度地提高老化对肉质和价值的正面影响。该概念要求对影响牛肉老化的物理，生化和收获后因素有充分的了解。