Fabrication of the high-performance label for freshness maintenance in meat products via a "three-dimensional adsorption" strategy.

Meat freshness is critical for preserving quality and reducing economic losses. However, many freshness labels still suffer from low sensing efficiency and unstable physicochemical performance under the microenvironment of meat products, which limits practical adoption. Here, we fabricate a double-layer freshness-maintaining label (CEO/β-CD/Be/SBE-β-CD/Alz/CS, CB-ACS) via a "water-electrostatic-gas three-dimensional adsorption" strategy. The fluorescence layer (CB) is constructed by co-loading cinnamaldehyde essential oil/β-cyclodextrin (CEO/β-CD) and berberine/sulfobutyl ether β-cyclodextrin (Be/SBE-β-CD) supramolecular inclusion complexes onto a porous cellulose (Ce) substrate, followed by coating an alizarin/chitosan colorimetric layer (Alz/CS, ACS). Within this strategy,"Water absorption" promotes bilayer adhesion through water-phase migration of the ACS into the superficial Ce network and capillary-driven assembly during dehydration; "Electrostatic adsorption" contributes to mechanical robustness through electrostatically assisted interfacial association coupled with hydrogen-bond interactions; and "Gas adsorption" enhances sensitivity through gas transport in a well-interconnected, low-tortuosity pore network that enables more efficient transport of spoilage-derived volatile bases to the sensing interface. The results demonstrated that this label delivers a rapid, non-contact freshness readout with improved anti-interference reliability. In refrigerated lamb, ΔE increases from 6.62 on Day 2 to 53.28 on Day 10, and shelf life is extended by 3 days. Overall, this work establishes a transferable "water-electrostatic-gas three-dimensional adsorption" strategy for designing high-performance freshness-maintaining labels for meat products.