4. Conclusion

Thanks to digital technology and the constant evolution of microprocessors, it is now possible to objectively characterize biological material using morphological and chemical imaging methods. Morphometric quantification of structures, whatever the scale of observation, is achieved by analyzing digital images using dedicated software. Chemical imaging and localized spectroscopy provide access to the distribution of the desired compounds within the material studied (muscle, meat and meat products in this case). Sample preparation steps are limited, and tissue component interactions are generally preserved. The choice of method is essential to target the compounds to be highlighted and to adapt to the spatial and spectral resolutions required by the research questions. Acquisition times for spectra and, a fortiori, relatively long mappings (several tens of hours to map a 1 cm ^...