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Currently, consumers' interest in healthy products has attracted the attention of academia and the meat industry, which has focused mainly on incorporating ingredients with healthier properties. In this context, the aim of this study was to investigate the social representation of original burgers and burgers with mushroom addition considering different sexes and body mass indexes (BMIs) of individuals. Thus, 209 Brazilians answered a word association task followed by a word classification based on their importance and valence for original burgers and burgers with the addition of mushrooms. To obtain the structure of social representation, the words were positioned into four distinct zones based on their frequency of elicitation and importance. Also, the polarity index was used to give a connotation to the words. Three groups of consumers were identified. The first group (consumers with class-1 obesity of both sexes) associated the original burger with positive categories (cheese, juicy, seasoned, food, tasty, joy, salad and delicious). The second one (female consumers with pre-obesity and class-1 obesity) associated the burger with the addition of mushrooms with the elements price, different, vegetarian, flavor, gourmet and healthy. Finally, the third group (men and women for both stimuli and with a wide range of BMI) characterized burgers with sensory attributes, feelings and moments of consumption. In conclusion, the social representation of the original burger and the burger with the addition of mushrooms differed among consumers, suggesting that the main associations can be the main motivations for the consumption of a certain product., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Meat products are important for balanced diets because of their nutritional richness. However, noxious compounds may be formed by interactions among reactants and specific conditions in processed meats. N-nitroso compounds, heterocyclic aromatic amines, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, 1,4-dinitro-2-methyl pyrrole (DNMP), and ethyl nitrolic acid (ENA) are among the main compounds of toxicological concern. This review corroborates the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC)'s decision to classify those foodstuffs as carcinogenic to humans. Furthermore, this paper also aimed at clarifying how noxious compounds are formed in meat products, as well as their health effects for consumers. The preservatives abuse and the use of forbidden additives may increase the formation of carcinogens. Risks are not only due to preservatives, since some compounds are formed during processing or digestion, without clear link to any additive. Regulation should set specific residue limits for other noxious compounds in meat products, such as DNMP and ENA. The scope of control programs should be extended instead of assessing the proper use of additives only. Thus, reliable analytical methods for the quantitation of carcinogens should be available. Fermentative and enzymatic processes for bioconversion are among the main strategies to solve these problems in foodstuffs. The use of antioxidants is the most common approach, because of its low cost and effectiveness. In the future, the IARC classification should rather consider different categories of processing, as well as the chemical and microbiological composition of meat products. Further studies are still required to clarify the increase on cancer risk due to the consumption of meat products and to elucidate the main mechanisms of carcinogenicity. Notwithstanding, such carcinogens cannot be neglected, but continuously investigated, including their health implications in relation to other foods., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Fresh salmon safety and quality is a major concern of consumers. In the current research, the effects of chitosan films incorporated with pink pepper residue extract and combined with modified atmosphere packaging (100% CO 2 ) on quality properties of skinless salmon fillets during refrigerated storage (2 °C) were evaluated in the course of 28 days. Two different treatments as chitosan film (CF) and chitosan film incorporated with pink pepper residue extract (CFPP) and a control were compared. Salmon fillets were assessed for physicochemical (pH, WHC, TPA, Cie L*a*b*, TMA, TBA, value K), microbiological (mesophilic and psychrotrophic count, and lactic acid bacteria) and sensory properties. The results showed that CF and CFPP significantly reduced lipid oxidation relative to the control. Bacterial counts were significantly lower in CFPP, contributing to the significant reduction of trimethylamine. For sensory evaluation, CF and CFPP presented satisfactory results of off-odor and overall appearance. Despite being similar to the control, CFPP showed the lowest off-odor score. The results indicated that CFPP were more effective in maintaining the quality of salmon fillets during refrigerated storage., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The packaging colour is one of the main extrinsic factors related to sensory perception as it can alter the emotions evoked by the product and, therefore, influence the moment of purchasing a product. There are several methods used to analyse emotions, but the Temporal Dominance of Emotions (TDE) approach stands out. This method allows the study of the temporality of dominant emotions until eating a portion of the hamburger. The aim of this work was to use TDE and overall acceptance to study the dynamic of the emotions evoked by the packaging colour of hamburgers, from first sight of the packaging until eating of a portion of hamburger. The twelve attributes of emotion, determined previously via a focus group, were presented to the consumers to evaluate three different stimuli formed by three different coloured packaging (green, white and red) and the same hamburger. The results showed that acceptance alone is not sufficient to understand the choice of a product, most likely because it does not capture the emotions involved in the consumption of a hamburger. Significant differences were found in the dynamic perception of emotions influenced by the packaging colour along time, mainly during the first "packaging - consumer" contact. Finally, the study of the dynamics of emotions provided valuable and complementary information to overall acceptance., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)