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This study investigated the potential effects of transport distance, animal weight, and muscle position on meat quality in young bulls under commercial conditions across four slaughtering weeks during the summer months (May to September). Data on transport distance, lairage time, and ambient temperature during slaughtering days were collected from 80 young bulls from North German farms. Meat quality parameters, including pH, temperature, and meat color were also recorded at several post-mortem times from two different carcass locations (shoulder clod and silverside). Meat texture was evaluated both by sensory and instrumental analysis, and their values were compared to find possible correlations between them. All of the aforementioned main factors (transport distance, animal weight, and muscle position), as well as the interaction between animal weight and transport distance, significantly influenced (p < 0.01) meat quality traits. The results of the assessment of the meat texture from the cooked meat patties suggested that silverside cuts were consistently harder than shoulder clod cuts, despite having lower pH48 values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to determine the antibacterial activity of the essential oil of fingerroot (Boesenbergia pandurata) (EOF) as a natural preservative in ground meat and its effect on the formation of heterocyclic amines (HAs) in pan-fried meatballs. EOF was applied either by adding it to ground pork or marinating pork in it before grinding. In addition, the antibacterial activity of EOF was tested. Aerobic mesophilic total viable count (TVC), lactic acid bacteria (LAB), and Enterobacteriaceae bacteria were monitored. The results show that EOF exhibited strong antibacterial activity when added at concentrations of 1.0 and 2.5 wt%. Antimicrobial activity against TVC, LAB, and especially Enterobacteriaceae bacteria was observed at all EOF concentrations (0.25, 0.5, 1.0, and 2.5 wt%). A 2.5% concentration of EOF applied by marinating trimmings can extend the shelf-life of ground pork to 18 days, while 2.5% EOF applied via addition can extend the shelf-life to 15 days, compared with 3 days for the control sample. After frying the meatballs, the inhibitory effect on the formation of heterocyclic amines was only significant for MeIQx with the highest addition of EOF (2.5 wt%). Significant increases in the concentrations of all other HAs were determined by adding EOF (2.5 wt%). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Meat color research from the last two decades suggests that a combination of different intrinsic (ultimate pH, age of the animals, muscle position, breed, slaughter weight, and sex) and extrinsic factors (production systems and feeding, pre-mortem stress, slaughter season, and chilling rates) might have a deep impact in the color of beef muscle and influence consumers' acceptance of fresh meat. Ultimate pH and muscle position were perceived as the most determinant intrinsic factors, whereas production systems, feeding, and ante-mortem stress were the extrinsic factors that more strongly influenced beef color attributes. From an industrial perspective, the extrinsic factors can be improved through the technological process at a higher ratio than the intrinsic ones. This review aims to evaluate the effect of each of those factors on myoglobin oxidation and beef color traits from a comprehensive standpoint. All the information discussed in this manuscript focuses on an industrial environment and offers possible solutions and recommendations for the global meat industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Smoking is used to give food its typical aroma and to obtain the desired techno-functional properties of the product. To gain a deeper knowledge of the whole process of food smoking, a controllable smoking process was developed, and the influence of wood pyrolysis temperature (150–900 °C) on the volatile compounds in the smoking chamber atmosphere was investigated. The aroma profile of smoke was decoded by headspace solid-phase microextraction-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (HS-SPME-GC-MS). Subsequently, the correlations in the most important substance classes, as well as in individual target components, were investigated by the Pearson test. Phenols and lactones showed an increase over the entire applied temperature range (rT = 0.94 and rT = 0.90), whereas furans and carbonyls showed no strict temperature dependence (rT < 0.6). Investigations on single aroma compounds showed that not all compounds of one substance class showed the same behavior, e.g., guaiacol showed no significant increase over the applied pyrolysis temperature, whereas syringol and hydoxyacetone showed a plateau after 450 °C, and phenol and cyclotene increased linear over the applied temperature range. These findings will help to better understand the production of aroma-active compounds during smoke generation in order to meet consumers preferences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The meat industry is typically using a mixture of fresh and frozen meat batters for minced meat production. Our goal was to find the exact threshold for fresh to frozen meat ratio capable of controlling the meat temperature during processing, but without having an adverse effect on the sensory quality of minced pork. To achieve this, the percentage of frozen meat used for the minced pork production was increased from 0% (control) to 50% (maximum) in 10% increments. To keep the minced meat temperature in control and make the processing resistant to fat smearing, the addition of 30% of frozen meat to the meat batter is sufficient. The soluble protein content, instrumental cutting force, and the sensory perceived firmness, juiciness, and inner cohesion were not affected by the addition of frozen meat. However, it has contributed to a significant increase of the drip loss and the amount of non-intact cells (ANIC). With the addition of frozen meat into the minced pork, the compliance to ANIC regulation by the German regulatory authorities is technologically (practically) almost impossible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

(1) Background: The selection of raw material and the postmortem processing of beef influence its quality, such as taste. In this study, the metabolome of beef from cows and heifers is examined for differences during aging. (2) Methods: Thirty strip loins from eight heifers and seven cows (breed code: 01–SBT) were cut into ten pieces and aged for 0, 7, 14, 21 and 28 days. Samples from the left strip loins were wet-aged in vacuum, while samples from right strip loins were dry-aged at 2 °C and 75% relative humidity. The beef samples were extracted with methanol–chloroform–water, and the polar fraction was used for 1H NMR analysis. (3) Results: The PCA and OPLS-DA showed that the metabolome of cows and heifers varied. Eight metabolites revealed significant differences (p < 0.05) in the samples from cows and heifers. The aging time and aging type of beef also affected the metabolome. Twenty-eight and 12 metabolites differed significantly (p < 0.05) with aging time and aging type, respectively. (4) Conclusions: The variations between cows and heifers and aging time affect the metabolome of beef. By comparison, the influence of aging type is present but less pronounced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Food products often consist of several phases. Comminuted meat products, for example, are multiphase systems consisting of structured meat particles and unstructured batter-like substance. To develop and understand the processing of these products, it is important to understand the sensory and mechanical perception principles. To this end, two-phase food prototypes consisting of mixtures of ground beef and beef batter were prepared and subjected to sensory, texture, and oral processing analysis. The oral processing analysis focused on the biomechanical data of the chewing process, namely the kinematics of jaw movement and electromyographic activity. The ground meat served as the anisotropic phase and the meat dough as the isotropic phase. A significant increase in muscle activity, duration per bite, and occlusion time with increasing proportion of fibrous particles was demonstrated (p < 0.05). In contrast, a higher proportion of isotropic substance resulted in significantly higher amplitudes of jaw movement and faster jaw kinetics (p < 0.05). In mixed regimes, the system responded mainly according to the dominant phase, with sensory or mechanical response changing at a critical point. In combination with texture and sensory data, a holistic characterization of the food models could be performed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Larger processing equipment to produce minced meat could affect its structure due to intensive processing and a high energy intake in the meat mass. To assess if this would result in alterations in the minced meat quality, finely chopped meat (FCM) was added in different concentrations (15, 30, 45, 60, 75, 90, and 100%) to minced meat and quality parameters were analyzed. FCM was used to simulate different intensity of an unintended destruction of meat cells due to various processes. The amount of non-intact cells (ANIC) was determined histologically and furthermore, soluble protein content, water holding capacity, mechanical and sensory texture, and scanning electron and confocal laser scanning microscopy was applied to analyze the meat structure and quality. ANIC indicated that even adding 15% FCM was statistically (p < 0.05) distinguishable from 100% minced meat and 30% FCM had already 50 Vol.-% ANIC. In contrast, the addition of 15% or 30% FCM did not result in significant differences in drip loss of raw and cooked meat as well as mechanical and sensory texture analysis. This study showed that intensive processing might be detectable via ANIC, but that the minced meat quality was not affected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In hamburger manufacturing, meat is subjected to four main processing steps (pre-grinding, mixing, grinding, and forming), whereby muscle fibers are disintegrated. In this study, the influence of these process steps was characterized by structural (amount of non-intact cells (ANIC), CLS-Microscopy), functional (drip loss) and qualitative (soluble protein content, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) activity, myoglobin content (Mb)) parameters of the meat. Therefore, meat samples were analyzed after each process step. Histological analyses revealed an increased ANIC with progressive processing. Thereby, the first and second grinding steps caused the strongest increases (factors 2.43 and 2.69). Comparable results were found in the relative LDH activity (factor 2.20 and 1.62) and the Mb concentration (factor 2.24 and 1.33) of the extracted meat solution. The findings suggest that the disintegration of the meat structure increases with progressive processing, causing more vulnerable structures which result in increased leakage of intramuscular substances. Further, the type of stress acting on the meat determines the extent of the changes. The presented findings enable manufacturers to precisely adjust their process towards more gentle production parameters and thus, to meet the legal regulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fibers of potato protein and polysaccharides were obtained by needleless electrospinning. Mixtures of maltodextrin DE2 (dextrose equivalent) (0.8 g/mL), DE21 (0.1 g/mL), and different concentrations of potato protein (0.05, 0.1, 0.15, and 0.2 g/mL) were used for fiber production. Glycation was performed via the Maillard reaction after thermal treatment (0/6/12/24/48 h, 65 °C, 75% relative humidity). The effects of electrospinning and heating on trypsin inhibitor activity (IA) were studied. The results of the IA assay showed that electrospinning and glycation caused significant differences in IA among blends, heating times, and the interaction of blend and heating time (p < 0.001). The higher the protein content in the fibers, the higher the IA. The lowest IA was found in the mixture with the lowest protein content after 48 h. In other blends, the minimum IAs were found between 6 and 12 h of heating. The determination of the free lysine groups showed a nonsignificant decrease after heating. However, higher free lysine groups per protein (6.3–9.5 g/100 g) were found in unheated fibers than in the potato protein isolate (6.0 ± 0.5 g/100 g). The amide I and amide II regions, detected by the Fourier transform infrared spectra, showed only a slight shift after heating. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The production of ultrafine fibers of proteins and polysaccharides by needleless electrospinning can be performed prior to a thermal treatment to form glycoconjugates via the first stage of the Maillard reaction. The aim was to produce potato protein–maltodextrin conjugates with a varying protein content of 0.05, 0.1, 0.15, and 0.2 g/mL by needleless electrospinning and subsequent thermal treatment (0, 6, 12, 24, and 48 h at 65 °C and 75% relative humidity). The concentrations of the maltodextrins, with a dextrose equivalent of 2 and 21, were kept constant at 0.8 and 0.1 g/mL. The highest fiber production rate was achieved with a protein content of 0.1 g/mL (5.8 ± 0.4 g/h). With increasing protein content, the production rate decreased to 2.8 ± 0.5 g/h. The fibers obtained from the spinning solution containing 0.2 g/mL protein showed the largest average diameter (4.0 ± 1.5 µm) and the broadest fiber diameter distribution. The protein content of the fibers was close to that of the corresponding spinning solution. The browning index after 48 h of heating increased for all samples (9.7–14.7) compared to the unheated samples (1.1–3.3). The results indicate that the protein content has an impact on the yield, the fiber diameter, and the morphology of the fibers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plant proteins are being considered to become the most important protein source of the future, and to do so, they must be able to replace the animal-derived proteins currently in use as techno-functional food ingredients. This poses challenges because plant proteins are oftentimes storage proteins with a high molecular weight and low water solubility. One promising approach to overcome these limitations is the glycation of plant proteins. The covalent bonding between the proteins and different carbohydrates created via the initial stage of the Maillard reaction can improve the techno-functional characteristics of these proteins without the involvement of potentially toxic chemicals. However, compared to studies with animal-derived proteins, glycation studies on plant proteins are currently still underrepresented in literature. This review provides an overview of the existing studies on the glycation of the major groups of plant proteins with different carbohydrates using different preparation methods. Emphasis is put on the reaction conditions used for glycation as well as the modifications to physicochemical properties and techno-functionality. Different applications of these glycated plant proteins in emulsions, foams, films, and encapsulation systems are introduced. Another focus lies on the reaction chemistry of the Maillard reaction and ways to harness it for controlled glycation and to limit the formation of undesired advanced glycation products. Finally, challenges related to the controlled glycation of plant proteins to improve their properties are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The occurrence of heterocyclic amines (HAs) in grilled chicken breasts was investigated. All samples contained HAs, including MeIQx, PhIP, and the β-carbolines harman and norharman. In particular, PhIP was found in concentrations of 1.5–9.1 ng/g, and MeIQx was detected at very low concentrations (n.d.–1.1 ng/g). The concentrations of two co-mutagenic β-carbolines, harman and norharman, ranged from 0.8 to 2.3 ng/g when the content of the precursor glucose was varied from 100 to 620 mg/kg. In contrast, the content of the precursor creatine in non-grilled chicken breasts varied by only 8.6%. A significant linear correlation existed between the molar concentration of PhIP and the molar ratio of creatine/glucose (r = 0.88, p < 0.001). We, thus, conclude that the formation of PhIP may be inhibited with increasing concentrations of glucose in chicken breast. Chicken patties coated with ribose or glucose-containing water in oil emulsions confirmed that both reducing sugars decreased PhIP formation with the preferred concentrations (sensory analysis) of 0.5–1% for ribose and 1% for glucose leading to a reduction of PhIP formation by 28–34% and 39%, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polyphenol-rich grape seed extract (0.1 w/w%) was incorporated in liposomes (1 w/w% soy lecithin) by high pressure homogenization (22,500 psi) and coated with chitosan (0.1 w/w%). Primary liposomes and chitosan-coated secondary liposomes containing grape seed extract showed good physical stability during 98 days of storage. Most of the polyphenols were incorporated in the shell of the liposomes (85.4%), whereas only 7.6% of the polyphenols of grape seed extract were located in the interior of the liposomes. Coating with chitosan did not change the polyphenol content in the liposomes (86.6%). The uncoated liposomes without grape seed extract were highly prone to lipid oxidation. The cationic chitosan coating, however, improved the oxidative stability to some extent, due to its ability to repel pro-oxidant metals. Encapsulated grape seed extract showed high antioxidant activity in both primary and secondary liposomes, which may be attributed to its polyphenol content. In conclusion, the best chemical stability of liposomes can be achieved using a combination of grape seed extract and chitosan.