Search

In recent years, natural pigments have been widely used in meat products (pork/beef patties, sausages, etc.) to maintain color, and as an antioxidant and antibacterial to extend the shelf life of meat products. To date, the food pigment industry has developed rapidly. Natural pigments are more popular among consumers because of their color and physiological functions such as bacteriostatic and antioxidant activity. However, compared with synthetic pigments, some natural pigments have poor stability and water solubility, which limit their application in the food industry. Therefore, taking certain methods to improve their stability and water solubility can expand the scope of use of the pigments and achieve favourable economic benefits. In this paper, we briefly analyze the main factors affecting the stability of natural pigments and summarize the methods commonly used to improve them. The methods mainly include the use of antioxidants and encapsulation of the pigments through spray/freeze drying, complex coacervation, ionic gelation, supercritical anti-solvent, etc. Finally, this paper also outlines the use of stabilized and non-stabilized pigments in meat products so as to serve as a baseline for use in meat and meat products.

Moisture migration is an important factor affecting the performance and durability of laminated veneer lumber (LVL), a common packaging material. In this paper, we used low-field nuclear magnetic resonance (LF-NMR) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technology to investigate the moisture migration of LVL during water absorption and drying. The results showed that as LVL absorbed water, the signals of both strongly and weakly bound water in the pores increased significantly with time until the samples were fully saturated, and the NMR signals did not change much. The drying process of LVL started with a significant decrease of weakly bound water signals, followed by a gradual decrease of strongly bound water signals until the moisture content in the samples had completely evaporated. MRI was used to observe the water distribution during the water absorption and drying process and found that the visual images were consistent with the quantified NMR spectral results. We also found a linear relationship between the NMR signal and the water mass, and a high correlation between the NMR and weighing results. Our results demonstrated that the combination of LF-NMR relaxation technology and MRI technology is an effective method to analyze the moisture distribution and migration for LVL laminates.

Color is an important factor in determining a consumer's desire to buy and an important indicator of meat quality. Processing and storage processes affect the color of meat products. Therefore, research on how to improve the color of meat products can not only improve the quality of meat products but also enhance a consumer's desire to buy. Nitrosomyoglobin is known to be the main substance that exerts color in meat products. Meanwhile, meat products undergo a series of chemical and physical changes during the curing process that also affect the color of cured meat products. This paper reviews the six main factors currently affecting the color of cured meat products: (1) Quality of raw meat and the content of myoglobin; (2) physical structure of the muscle and achromatic aberration; (3) lipid oxidation; (4) Maillard reaction; (5) additives; and (6) packaging methods. In addition, the article also explores the relationship between pH, temperature, water retention and color in cured meat products, in order to provide more ideas for the study of color in cured meat products.

Fermented sausage is a fermented meat product favored by a large number of of consumers. In fermented sausages, the formation of gel is one of the key steps, and its composition mainly includes meat protein and fat, among which myofibrillar protein is essential for the gel properties of fermented sausages. During the processing of fermented sausages, the myofibrillar protein and myosin in the meat are deformed, losing their original solubility and becoming a gel substance, while the metabolites and enzymes of microorganisms in the fermented sausage can interact with the protein and fat in the meat to promote the formation of gel, thereby helping to improve the texture, water retention and taste of the fermented sausage. In this paper, the formation mechanism of gel properties of fermented sausage was comprehensively discussed, the effects of lactic acid bacteria, temperature, and other factors on the gel properties of fermented sausage were analyzed, and the research methods of gel properties were introduced. The aim was to provide a basis for the control of process parameters in the processing of fermented sausage and to provide a reference for further improving the gel quality of fermented sausage.

In this paper, the reaction process parameters of the hydrogel produced by the modified gelatin from chicken, bovine and porcine lungs with carboxymethyl chitosan (CMCS) and oxidized glucomannan (OKGM) were optimized to produce Schiff base reaction. The results showed the properties of the three composite hydrogels are improved when the value of gelatin/CMCS/OKGM reached 1:2:2. The best modified gelatin/CMCS/OKGM of bovine lung composite hydrogel (COBH) had a gelatin strength of 8.14 N, a swelling rate of 257%, a water evaporation rate of 66.86%, and an antibacterial property of 38.02%. The properties of modified gelatin/CMCS/OKGM of chicken lung composite hydrogel (COCH) were similar to those of COBH. However, the water holding capacity of COCH was higher than that of COBH. The properties of the modified gelatin/CMCS/OKGM for porcine lung composite hydrogel (COPH) were significantly decreased over those of the other two. Therefore, COCH has potential applications in food coating and preservation.

Cold chain meat has become the main force of meat consumption in China due to its unique taste and rich nutrition. However, there are serious regulatory blind spots throughout the cold chain process, making it difficult to monitor the freshness quality and shelf life of cold chain meat in real time. Therefore, in this study, the dominant spoilage microorganism prediction model for cold chain meat was parsed to predict the logarithmic value of the dominant spoilage microorganism in real time based on temperature information, which was compared with the freshness quality threshold to derive real-time quality information. This paper proposes to develop the system with ASP.NET three-tier architecture as the development framework and .NET Framework 4.6.2 as the development environment. Combining MySQL 5.7.31 application database, Vue 2.6 and Apache ECharts front-end technology development a intelligent monitoring system for cold chain meat freshness. The system has five core application modules: multi-role login module, big data visualization and analysis module, product information management module, product freshness quality and shelf life real-time monitoring and warning module, and system setting module, to monitor the freshness quality and shelf life of cold chain meat products at all stages, real time. The development of this system can realize the real-time supervision of the quality of cold chain meat products in the whole industrial chain of processing, storage, transportation and sales, timely detect product abnormalities, provide technical support for food enterprises, and provide food safety assurance for consumers.

This paper aims to investigate the effects of several novel preserving methods on the quality of wet konjac noodles during storage. Wet konjac noodles were prepared by konjac flour, soy protein isolate and sweet potato starch. Fresh-keeping treatments by single acid (pH = 3) soaking (CA group), acid soaking followed by pasteurization and vacuum packing (CF group), and alkaline immersion followed by pasteurization and vacuum packing (CI group) were set. As a result, CF and CI groups could well inhibit the growth of microorganisms during storage at room temperature (28 ± 1 °C) for 8 weeks. The treated wet konjac noodles also had stable sensory quality, better odor and taste, and higher chewiness and elasticity compared with the control (CK) group. Compared to CI treatment, CF treatment exhibited more desirable performance in whiteness, sensory characteristics, textural properties and internal microstructure of the product. In summary, the use of acid soaking followed by pasteurization and vacuum packing technology is an efficacious way to ensure the expected shelf life of wet konjac noodles. This technology could also provide some theoretical and technical support for enterprises to process and produce wet konjac noodles and other high moisture foods.

Natural plant extracts (NPE) from some organs of plants are rich in bioactive substances. They have special nutritional characteristics with strong antioxidant and antimicrobial activities. The potential of NPEs to maintain and improve the quality of meat products has attracted attention due to concerns about the safety hazards of synthetic food additives. This paper extensively reviewed the application of NPE in meat processing, and systematically analyzed the comprehensive effects of different NPE using meta-analysis. Fourty-eight articles from 23 countries were studied with standard mean deviation (SMD) using random effect model, and 28 indexes were isolated. Results showed that NPE can reduce the pH value of meat products, improve antioxidant capacity, reduce the degree of oxidation and inhibit microbial growth. In addition, it was found that NPE had a significant impact on the quality of meat products. This meta-analysis provides quantitative evidence to explain how NPE affects meat quality, and helps to better understand the role of NPE in meat processing.

This paper focuses on the mechanism of the excellent oil/water (O/W) interface elastic film formation ability of meat protein (myofibrillar protein (MP)) compared with proteins (porcine plasma protein (PPP), egg-white protein isolate (EPI), and sodium caseinate (SC)). The conformation–effect mechanism was further analyzed between the conformational flexibility and the interfacial properties. The surface hydrophobicity (H0) and reactive sulfhydryl (R-SH) content of MP were higher than those of PPP and EPI. The conformation change rate results demonstrated that MP exhibited the best protein flexibility (p < 0.05). During dynamic interfacial tension (IFT) testing, among the four proteins, MP exhibited the highest diffusion rate (Kdiff) in the first phase of adsorption (p < 0.05), and it presented the strongest elastic modulus (Ed) of the interfacial film despite the relatively higher IFT. In addition, dynamic aqueous phase rephase substitution was conducted to replace PPP, EPI, and SC with MP to discover the O/W interfacial film restructuring ability induced by protein interaction. After the above three non-meat proteins were substituted with MP, the final IFT values decreased significantly (p < 0.05) compared with the corresponding values before substituting. In summary, the highest Kdiff, Ed values, and interfacial film restructuring ability for MP should be attributed to its highest conformational flexibility, excellent surface hydrophobicity, and relatively high R-SH content. These results provide a technical reference for the regulation of interfacial adsorption for protein conformation and the colloidal stability of protein products with applications in the food industry.

Faced with the various technologies used today to preserve food, consumers are becoming more demanding on information relating to both the quality and the processing of food. One of the technologies that has proven its effectiveness in food safety is irradiation, however people remain cautious or even refuse this technology which is not yet very popular and popularized thinking that it is a toxic treatment. This paper identifies the basic knowledge of two populations (Tunisian and Portuguese) about ionizing treatment and their intention to purchase irradiated foods, focusing on strawberry fruits. An online survey was conducted for research purposes and 1,000 people, living in Tunisia and Portugal were involved. The findings showed that there is still a dearth of knowledge on food irradiation, which demonstrates mistrust, misunderstandings, and reluctance to purchase irradiated products. In contrast to 56.3% of Tunisians, the data indicated that 60.7% of Portuguese do not know what food irradiation is. The two populations think that irradiating food and consuming it are harmful, despite the fact that their knowledge of the process is spread out differently. The Portuguese, who were more interested about food irradiation, were also more inclined to purchase and consume irradiated strawberries than the Tunisians. In fact, 62.7% of Portuguese people indicated they would be convinced to buy irradiated strawberries, in contrast to 33.5% of Tunisians who stated they would certainly not buy it and insisted on the harmful effects of the treatment if they had more knowledge and evidence if the treatment had been shown to be successful.

This study aimed to screen out bacterial strains with higher lignocellulolytic degradation enzyme activity and explore the effect of this strain on the highland barely soluble dietary fiber content through fermentation. Soil samples were collected from the ground of Nanjing Agriculture University (Nanjing, China) and used for enrichment culture. The methods used to screen the bacteria with high lignocellulose-degrading ability included decolorization test of aniline blue, hydrolyzation circle measurement of sodium carboxymethyl cellulose, disintegration test of filter paper strip and detection of enzyme activity. Six bacteria were isolated with lignocellulose degrading ability, of which LM1-strain possessed high lignocellulose degrading ability. The LM1 strain was identified as Bacillus velezensis by morphological, physiological, biochemical characteristics and molecular sequence analysis. Antibiotic sensitivity tests and hemolysis tests showed that strain LM1 was sensitive to all antibiotics and caused no hemolysis, indicating the safety of strain LM1. Strain LM1 was used to ferment highland barley whole grain flour and the content of soluble dietary fiber reached high levels (12.57 g/100 g), which was 2.07 times that of the raw barley soluble dietary fiber (6.07 g/100 g). The purity of soluble dietary fiber also reached the level of enzymatic extraction. The results will enrich the types of fermentation strains and promote the development and utilization of cereals and their by-products.

With the continuous improvement of living standards, people’s demand for meat products is increasing. However, the high fat content in traditional meat products will result in additional chronic diseases, causing harm to human health. Hence, there exists an urgent need for research on fat reduction technology of meat products. Recently, physical modification technologies and protein/carbohydrate/lipid/complex-based fat substitutes have gained great interest in reducing animal fat, which can simultaneously improve the technological and sensory properties of meat products. In this thriving field, many newly presented works lack comprehensive summary and critical comparison. Therefore, this paper reviews the latest research progress on the application of physical technologies and fat substitutes in fat-reduced meat products, highlighting their advantageous and disadvantageous in reducing total fat, improving the fatty acid profile and modifying technological and sensory properties of products. Finally, future trends are proposed with the aim to provide new insight into the development of quality fat-substituted meat products.