Research Progress on Dry-aging: A New Strategy for Enhancing Livestock Meat Quality

Dry-aging is a postmortem processing technology that converts muscle into meat by precisely controlling parameters such as temperature, humidity, airflow, and aging time. This process can improve meat tenderness and juiciness, while simultaneously, developing unique flavor and aroma characteristics. The dynamic changes in microbial communities during dry-aging also play a significant role in flavor formation. Although traditional dry-aging enhances flavor and tenderness, it has several drawbacks, including long aging periods (14~35 days), high costs, and substantial weight loss. To address these issues, new technologies such as bagged dry-aging and stepwise aging have been developed. Bagged dry-aging, in particular, can reduce weight loss while preserving flavor and tenderness. Additionally, studies have shown that the "hard shell" formed during dry-aging exhibits antioxidant activity and can serve as a food additive; effective utilization of this by-product can increase the economic value of meat processing. In summary, this review compares dry-aging with wet-aging techniques for livestock meat, examines the influence of dry-aging conditions on meat quality, and highlights recent technological advancements. It demonstrates that dry-aging is an effective method for improving livestock meat quality and is expected to play an increasingly prominent role in modern meat processing, driven by continuous innovation and industrial application.