The purpose of this study was to elucidate the ability of front face fluorescence spectroscopy to measure early lipid oxidation in minced turkey meat, and compare it to other methods for determination of oxidative status such as sensory analysis, dynamic headspace gas chromatography combined with a mass spectrometer (GC‐MS), and thiobarbituric acid‐reactive substances (TBARS) value. This comparison was performed on one batch of minced turkey meat. The meat was stored at −20 °C and −10 °C in vacuum or exposed to air. The results showed that fluorescence analysis is a sensitive, nondestructive method for measurement of early lipid oxidation, and its rapidity and ease of use facilitates it as a practical screening method in research as well as food production. The level of specific marker compounds for lipid oxidation (for example, 1‐penten‐3‐ol) was highly correlated with the fluorescence data.