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Discovery of nanomaterials in the last three decades and their unique properties led the boom in their applications in various areas. Use of these materials in engineering, medical and environment also increased their attraction for the potential applications in agriculture. The current focus of agriculture research is the sustainable increase in crop production and protection. For achieving the goals, constant checking of parameters such as moisture content, soil fertility, temperature, crop nutrient capacity, pathogens, plant diseases, etc. are highly required. Use of nano sensors for monitoring these aspects are found to be very effective in increasing the healthy crop production. This chapter describes the applications of different nanomaterials in sensing of gases during different phases of agricultural practices. The objective is to evaluate the current literature using the gas sensors in agriculture and meat production, and their storage and transport applications.

The consumption of meat is increasing continuously throughout the world. The growing meat industries causes environmental issues and demands more water and energy use in addition to the emission of unwanted gases during the meat production. Though the nutritional value of meat makes it as a preferable food, excessive intake is not suggested due to its high fat content. In addition, the meat industry struggles to cope up with the increasing demand for the meat. Hence, it is necessary to produce nutrient-rich meat substitutes to reduce the above issues. However, the development of meat substitutes is at the early stages of development. The main sources of meat alternatives can be plants, animals, or microbial products. Among the microbes, the fungal biomass formed by the growth of filamentous fungi serves as a rich source of mycoprotein that can be processed and used as human food. This chapter discusses the importance of meat and sustainable diet, the need of searching for meat alternatives, the importance of artificial meat, types of nonmeat proteins and their limitations, mycoprotein as meat a substitute and its production, and the future of meat substitutes.

A modern manufacturing enterprise requires constant modernization of the tools and technologies used in production. The use of innovative equipment contributes to improving product competitiveness. An increase in the population, changing tastes, growing food demand, and the development of science and technology cause the rapid development of the domestic food industry. Particular attention is paid to quality indicators in the production and sale of ready-to-eat food. Currently, non-price factors largely influence the results of food sales in the Russian market. The development of modern production increases its unit costs, amplifying the need to use innovative equipment in production, which leads to cost savings. The paper reflects the economic rationale for using the “FoodScan” production analyzer in the meat industry. Its implementation in the production will allow to quickly and reliably determine the chemical composition and calorific value of the edible part of the meat in accordance with the quality standards and technological parameters for slaughtered animals of all types. It will replace about ten laboratory employees and improve the quality and speed of measurements, leading to a reduction in production costs for processing raw meat and the cost of finished meat products. The assessment of one-time and current costs was carried out on the example of the meat processing plant “Dmitrogorsky Meat Processing Plant” LLC. The total operating costs for assessing the quality of raw meat and finished meat products will be reduced by 9.3 million rubles. It is possible to save 61% or 2,888 person-hours annually for laboratory research. The annual economic effect, taking into account the standard ratio of the relative efficiency of capital investments, will amount to 7.7 million rubles.

Organic waste has been playing an increasingly important role in the energy market as those that may support the economies in pursuing towards decarbonization by increasing the share of renewables in the overall energy balance. In this group of alternative fuels, meat-and-bone meals being a post-production waste of the steadily developing meat industry, constitute a considerable proportion. Though they are rich in minerals, their direct use as natural fertilizer has been restricted to eliminate the spread of potential pathogens. This has focused the worldwide interest on thermal utilization of this type of fuel. Still, there are relatively few units dedicated to deal with large streams of meals. To provide their safe destruction, the conversion process must ensure specific conditions regarding the temperature and residence time. Therefore, most technologies developed to date involve the fluidized bed combustion. By virtue of nature and the variety of physicochemical properties of animal meals, the in-depth analyses of a raw material and its thermal behaviour need to be carried out on the way to develop the efficient and low-emission conversion technology. The concept of the said staged combustion of animal meal has therefore been supported by extensive studies, including the investigation of specific issues related to the process stages, such as drying, devolatilization, gas and char combustion. The developed technology appears to respond to the challenges encountered in the conversion of waste organics, providing the possibility to utilize fuels with a moisture content of up to 90%wt, while keeping the acceptable emission levels (NOx, CO, SO2 and HCl). The 12 MW operating pilot-scale plant tested while supplied with meat-and-bone meal has exhibited high efficiency, 88.4–84.8% depending on a facility load, offering a complete fuel combustion resulting in a flue gas being free from flammable gas compounds, and the ashes with low percentages of combustibles.

Work-related musculoskeletal disorders remain a major concern for the industrial sector, despite preventive efforts made globally over the past decades. The objective of this chapter is to present an ergonomic intervention process carried out in a Colombian meat processing plant, using the Individual Risk Assessment (ERIN) method. The evaluation using the ERIN method allowed the identification of which aspects of the task under evaluation should be intervened. The intervention proposals were mainly engineering, were modeled in 3D, and focused on reducing exposure to physical risk factors. The impact of the proposals was projected before their implementation, using the ERIN method. As a result, the level of exposure to risk factors for work-related musculoskeletal disorders is estimated to be reduced from Very High (Actual Total Risk = 38) to Medium (Projected Total Risk = 24). It is expected that this case study will serve as a reference on how ergonomic interventions can be carried out in the industry.

Few studies in the South American context, and none in Chile, have been carried out in bovine slaughterhouse workers. However, the little evidence available mainly in North America and Europe is consistent with our findings, regarding the demands at the lumbar level, upper limbs and physical workload and the determinants of work activity. Objectives: Identify and describe the risk factors for WMSDs associated with Manual Handling of meat products, as well as other risk, the demand for physical work and biomechanical load, in truck loading and unloading activities in a slaughterhouse company and the determinants of work activity for the intervention. Material and Methods: Case study, observational descriptive cross-sectional design with mixed approach, considers the analysis of lumbar force moment, kinematic analysis and measurement of cardic frequency to determine the physiological workload, verbalizations, perceptions and observation of work activity Results: The Manual Handling of meat products exceeds 3400N of disc compression in L4-L5 and L5-S1 level, the % HRR is over 40% and the activity is determined by the type of working day, the organization of the distribution and the lack of means support mechanics for loading and unloading trucks. Conclusions. Manual Handling tasks in this industry are physically very demanding and improving these working conditions represents a major challenge for prevention and ergonomics.

The industrial production and excessive consumption of animal meat is increasingly related to environmental, ethical, and health issues. Meat alternatives have emerged as a promising solution to these issues. These foodstuffs that are intended to liken animal-based meat are frequently made from plant-based proteins, but may also be grown from animal tissue in laboratories. With an increasing interest in meat-free and meat-reduced diets, this chapter contributes to the book in two ways: It reviews the growing markets and trends as well as the sustainability potential of meat alternatives, and investigates how these trends may constitute opportunities and threats to the meat industry. Assuming that all ‘meats’ are mutually substitutable, it is argued that ‘non-animal meats’ can be considered a further step in the industrialisation of agriculture; hereby, the social, symbolic, and financial capital of the global meat industry enables it to continue ‘producing meat’ and to use these trends for further growth.

Ovine offal is a significant export co-product of meat processing in New Zealand. There is currently no automatic system available for its sorting. In this paper, we first analyze the requirements for robotic sorting of internal sheep organs, including the particular needs of the food industry, the components required for the robotic sorting system and the manipulation tasks. Current practices in the animal slaughtering and processing industry are followed. And then a robotic system for ovine offal sorting is proposed, and the problems to be solved are summarized. Next, we discuss the current methods and theories to solve the above problems and give potential solutions. Finally, the conclusion and future work of ovine offal harvesting are given.

Although pork is the most consumed meat in the European Union, its production and quality are currently facing big challenges, including feeding sustainability, lower sensory quality and unhealthy image of fat. This chapter addresses the most efficacious and promising nutritional strategies to mitigate these issues. In pigs, genetic selection towards reduced subcutaneous fat has hugely reduced intramuscular fat (IMF), with a strong negative effect on the sensory properties and consumers’ acceptability of pork. Dietary protein reduction, alone or in combination with other feed ingredients, improves fat partitioning with increased IMF content. This increased IMF may improve pork sensory traits, and the mechanisms underlying this relation are discussed here. These feeding strategies could satisfy consumer requirements and enhance the competitiveness of meat industry. In addition, microalgae are currently included in the diets of pigs only at low levels since their recalcitrant cell walls are largely indigestible by monogastric animals. However, the use of microalgae in pig feeding should represent a promising approach for the maintenance and development of livestock sector, as an environmental friendly alternative to balance food-feed-biofuel industries. The use of exogenous carbohydrate-active enzymes (cazymes) represents a promising cost-effective strategy to disclose the high nutritional value of algae for pigs.

The Agri-food Industry is the largest Portuguese Industry, constituted mainly by micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) conditions in an agri-food MSME have its own characteristics depending on the specific food sector. This condition makes the prevention strategies implementation difficult and heightens the problematic of work accidents. In this chapter are described online and offline free computational tools developed to perform OSH risks assessment in the dairy, meat processing, bakery and horticultural subsectors. The tools provide a simple and expedite diagnostic of occupational hazards and risks. Depending on the input data, the tools output identifies successful practices and easy-to-implement solutions for occupational risk prevention. These computational tools aim to empower Portuguese agri-food SMEs to implement innovative OSH management practices in order to prevent work accidents.

The article presents contemporary technical and technological capabilities in the production of biogas from organic substances of various types, including waste products which are a by-product of the operation of wastewater management facilities, as well as by-products of the meat industry and municipal waste management. Alternatives are discussed regarding traditional raw materials (those of the so-called first generation of biofuels), including raw materials obtained from waste materials, from the agricultural and food industries, and from plants with biofuel potential. The latest methods for pre-treatment of raw materials involving digestion of lignocellulosic structures, which are key for the effective use of the biogas potential of these substrates, are also discussed.

The quality of fresh and processed meat products deteriorates due to the oxidation of lipids and growth of microorganisms during processing and storage conditions. The oxidation of lipids alters the nutritional and sensorial quality of meat products. The growth of spoilage microorganisms also affects the nutritional and sensorial attributes and lowers the shelf life of products. Moreover, the presence of pathogenic microorganisms is a health hazard and is responsible for food recalls around the world. Antioxidants and antimicrobials are used for the control of lipid oxidation and the growth of microorganisms, respectively. The use of synthetic compounds is now not recommended by the health organizations due to the problem of toxicity and carcinogenicity. Thus, meat industry is now in search of natural compounds that can prevent the development of primary and secondary oxidation products through lipid oxidation as well as retard the growth of microorganisms through various mechanisms of action. The reformulation of ingredients using natural compounds for manufacturing of meat products without altering other quality attributes is a challenge for the meat industry. This chapter provides an elaborate discussion on the use of natural antioxidants and antimicrobials for the development of reformulated meat products with better oxidative and microbial stability.

This chapter explores the kangaroo meat supply chain, from species to industry, including markets, nutritional value, and other aspects of meat quality such as field harvesting, post-slaughter processes, sensory attributes and carcass hygiene. Kangaroo meat is obtained from wild animals, with Australia’s kangaroo meat industry based on legislated, regulated harvest of the abundant kangaroo species. Kangaroo meat can be classified as a game meat, bushmeat, and/or a free-range product, and there is increasing interest in kangaroo for human consumption across the globe. The carcass of the kangaroo has a high dressing percentage (>60%) and lean red meat yield. Of its low meat fat content (

Characteristic features of the functioning of domestic meat-processing enterprises are discussed in this article in the context of socioeconomic and political instability. Prospects for achieving sustainable development have been substantiated in detail by authors. In addition, a sustainable development strategy was developed. In this regard, the structure and mechanism for implementing strategic planning, the ultimate goal of which is the achievement of leadership excellence of the enterprise in all the angles of this concept, is analyzed in this paper. The mechanism for developing a sustainable development strategy for a meat-processing enterprises consists of the following steps: monitoring of the implementation of plans; the development of an effective methodology for the economic evaluation of the enterprise; processing and systematization of the received data with the subsequent formation of the analytical and statistical database; ensuring the prompt collection, processing and transmission of information with the mandatory use of innovative information technologies; the use of effective motivational techniques.

Michel Faber’s novel Under the Skin tracks the transformation of the novel’s protagonist, Isserley, as she undergoes a crisis in her self-identity and drifts slowly but in a determined manner toward another way of life. Isserley (who belongs to a highly-intelligent alien species that refers to itself as “human”) works in the voddissin industry, which captures and transforms “vodsels” (the term the aliens use for members of Homo sapiens, who are understood by them to be “mere” animals) into consumable meat. As the novel unfolds, Isserley eventually comes to reject the meat industry and the subjugation of vodsels on which it is based. Here I suggest that Isserly’s subjective transformation is based not on a superficial recognition of logical identity between herself and vodsels, but on a deeper ethic of belonging, which enables her to affirm her shared “animal” condition with vodsels and other earthly beings.

Lipids, as food constituents, have been receiving a great deal of attention due to their association with the development of chronic noncommunicable diseases. Since muscle food, mainly meat and meat products, is one of the main sources of fat, great efforts have been made, including by the meat industry, to modify its content. The procedures offering the greatest advantages in terms of opportunity and versatility are based on replacing animal fat with oils of vegetable and/or marine origin in accordance with health recommendations. Gelled fat replacers containing these oils and which are made with solid-fat characteristics are a novel approach to improving the lipid content of food products. Among gelled fat replacers, special attention should be paid to those that include healthy oil emulsion gels and oil bulking agents owing to their nutritional and technological advantages in the development of healthier muscle-based foods containing lipids. This chapter features a review of the importance of improving the lipid profile of food, the possibility of using biopolymers as gelling agents, and novel strategies for using these biopolymers as gelled fat replacers incorporating healthy oils. Different aspects related to the composition, preparation, structural organization, and their applications in the development of healthy muscle food products containing lipids will be described.

27 employees of the HKScani Rakvere meat industry went on strike on October 17th 2017. The key issue at stake on this strike was the low wages. Negotiations between the employees and the employer were not successful. The employer accused the employees of doing an illegal strike, considering it didn’t follow the Estonian law prescribes and there was not even a union in the company. The next day, the company informed that the strike was over. Three employees who organized the strike were fired. A head of HKScani Estonia promised that they would start negotiations on working conditions and wages. The next day, the strike promoters requested the Public Conciliator to solve the labor dispute. The employees quickly set up a local chapter of the trade union, which by October 24th had already increased its membership to 30 members. At the beginning of November, a meeting between representatives of the trade union and the management took place, in order to try to reach an agreement regarding the salaries. This did not happen. According to the Public Conciliator, management and employee representatives had often met to negotiate, and HKScani’s management had previously informed her that they would do everything to resolve the conflict as quickly as possible.

Duck, goose and garganey are waterfowls consumed in a lower proportion than chicken. These species are of great economic importance in Asia, Europe and USA. Among the three species, duck is the main bird produced for the meat system while goose is commercially produced by at lower proportion than duck. Differently, garganey is considered as game meat, which has been poorly studied in last decades. The productive system of duck and goose share similarities with which other such as physical structure, animal management, feeding strategies, management of environmental conditions, transport, and slaughter. However, these variables and related aspects of farming and meat processing can be managed in order to obtain safe and high-quality fresh meat. This chapter aim to present and discuss the main aspects related to waterfowl’s meat production and meat quality characteristics.

In this paper we describe and solve a scheduling problem taken from the slaughterhouse industry. In an on-going research project, a new concept for slaughtering and cutting of pigs is developed. The idea is to replace the traditional production line with a number of meat factory cells, where an operator slaughters and rough-cuts the pig, assisted by a robot. In order to minimize non-productive operator time, a solution approach is presented together with computational results.

Objective: to identify the work ability perception, the psychosocial risk factors and musculoskeletal symptomatology among workers of a meat processing industry. Methods: the sample consisted of 74 subjects, 53 female (71,6%) and 21 male (28,4%), with a mean age of 41,9 years old (± 11,3). Data collection was based on a survey including the Portuguese Version of the Work Ability Index (WAI) and of the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire II (COPSOQ II) and of the Nordic Questionnaire. Results: concerning to work ability, the average value found was 39,38 (± 5,97), considered as good work ability. As to psychosocial risk factors, job insecurity presented critical results and favourable results were found in the scales: role clarity, rewards, social community at work, self-efficacy, work-family conflict and offensive behavior. As referring to self-reported musculoskeletal symptomatology, the region with the highest frequency of complaints was the cervical region with a prevalence of 40,5% (n = 30) of pain/discomfort, with average pain perception of 2,58 (± 3,45) points in the last 12 months. The Spearman correlation test between the variables age and cervical pain (rho = 0,433; p = 0) and between age and low back pain (rho = 0.240; p = 0.040) show that there is a relationship between these variables. Conclusion: The results of this study point to the need for preventive actions in the meat processing industry, such as those related to work organization (rotation of tasks, adjustment of the production rhythm) and to programs for the prevention of work related musculoskeletal disorders, especially among the women.

In April 2013, Regulatory Standard 36 was published in Brazil, concerning health and safety at work in slaughtering and meat processing companies, aiming to establish, among other things, standards for the implementation of job rotation. This industry has expanded in Brazil, which is currently the world’s largest exporter of beef. This work presents partial data from a survey carried out in a cattle slaughterhouse located in the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil. The purpose of this communication is to present the acceptance of the slaughterworkers regarding the rotation of posts imposed by the legislation, as well as to identify the determinants of the work. According to the data obtained, the slaughtering sector is composed of 88 workers, of which 91% are male and 47% aged 40 to 54 years. The most common causes of absenteeism in last two years were inguinal and abdominal hernias. The most significant determinants of labor are: product variation (cattle differences), cadence and irregular work rate, and physical and psychological demands. Knives, the main work tools, require time to be cleaned and sharpened. Concerning acceptance of the rotation, 30% of the workers are in favor, as they will learn new activities, and 70% are contrary as they believe they will be more exposed to work accidents in activities for which they do not have specific skills. It is concluded that detailed analysis of the posts, with the effective participation of the workers, are the main steps to comply with current legislation and preserve health at work and reduce the number of accidents and occupational diseases.

Beef cattle and the meat processing chain are of great economic importance in Brazil, since they are responsible for creating thousands of jobs. Nevertheless, the issue of health and safety of the sector’s workers is a major problem given the high number of accidents at work and workers in sick leave, as a consequence of working at low temperatures, doing repetitive tasks, and carrying weights. In light of that, this article aims at identifying the association between musculoskeletal pains and discomforts and the implementation of a system of break periods and task rotations in the slaughter sector of a cattle slaughterhouse. The method employed consisted of direct observation, interviews with workers, and the application of ergonomic analysis methods. Results show that the lack of guidance in the implementation of task rotation still generates complaints, discomforts, and sick leaves. Finally, we developed a functional task rotation plan grounded on the analysis of work stations’ risks.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the risks associated with repetitive movements of the upper limbs in different meat processing tasks of a pig slaughterhouse. The study was conducted in a Brazilian pig slaughterhouse, in which 200 workers were evaluated through the OCRA Checklist. There were 18 work tasks analyzed from the following sectors: cuts (8); ham (4); pepperoni (3); sausage (2) and salami (1). The average score of OCRA Checklist was 20.6 ± 5.8 (moderate risk). The scores for the right upper limb (20.4 ± 6.0 - moderate risk) did not differ (p = 0.163) from the left upper limb (20.6 ± 5.8 - moderate risk). Two work tasks were considered high risk (11%) and 16 were within a moderate risk (89%). These results suggest that pig processing tasks predispose workers to a greater probability of developing upper limb work-related musculoskeletal disorders (>21.5% probability for high risk and 10.8 to 21.5% for moderate risk).

Nowadays, worldwide work related musculoskeletal disorders are considered a serious public health problem because they affect a high proportion of the economically active population, incapacitating the affected individual temporarily or permanently for their professional activities. So, greater attention should be paid to the ergonomic risks in the working population. The objective of this study is to determine the risk level do to forced postures of workers in the slaughter area of a representative company of the Ecuadorian meat industry. The risk factors are analyzed through direct observation, videos and the application of the Rapid Entire Body Assessment and Rapid Upper Limb Assessment methods. The results show a high-risk level caused by forced postures, highlighting the importance of prevention programs to improve the working conditions, that can minimize the damage and improve the life quality of workers and the productivity of small industries in developing countries.

Just as it does in the world, the meat processing industry in Bosnia and Herzegovina also represents one of the main branches of the food-processing sector. In the last twenty years, there have been great developments and applications of technological solutions, which accompany this branch of industry. Today, it is unimaginable that any production plant which deals with meat processing does so without the help of tens of highly-sophisticated machines (meat crusher, automatic mixers and fillers, micro and macrocutters, pickl-injectors, tumblers-massagers, smoking chambers, vacuum packing machines, etc.). Besides the fact that these machines, in their basic intent, have in a significant deal replaced the human factor, their application has other implications as well. Namely, the application of the newest technological accomplishments in the meat industry not only has it in many ways influenced the expansion of the palette of products, but also the overall quality of the products as well. On the other hand, the technology of lasting dry-cured meat products has even in the most advanced meat processing plants kept the basic contours of traditional production, in which the human work is predominantly present (meat cutting, ropes tying, salting/brining, drying, smoking, etc.). With the intent to try and find modalities of application some of the technological solutions in this production segment, the use of specific machines for some technological phases was done experimentally. More precisely, the phase of salting and/or brining, which is traditionally done by hand, was attempted in this study to be replaced by injecting machines (pickl-injectors). In addition, the modification of the technological process of production was performed in the segment of salting/brining. Namely, in this part of the production process the use of tumbler-massagers was implemented, for the purposes of the experiment. The aim of the application of these two contemporary machines was to establish the justification of their use from a technological standpoint. Besides that, their influence on the end quality of the product was the most important element of the justification of their use.

Wastewater from slaughterhouses and meat processing factories are normally assessed in terms of mass parameters due to the specific amounts of wastewater and pollutant load parallel to the animals slaughtered or processed that differ from the meat processing industry. Normally, this type of wastewater contains significant amounts of total phosphorus (TP), total nitrogen (TN), total organic carbon (TOC), chemical oxygen demand (COD), total suspended solids (TSS) and biochemical oxygen demand (BOD). The present chapter aims to highlight the characteristics of meat processing wastewater and the effect of the direct disposal of these wastes on the environment. Moreover, the potential of the phycoremediation process using microalgae species to remove nutrients in terms of total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP) from the meat processing wastewater was reviewed. The role of a biokinetic study in determining the specific removal rate of nutrient by microalgae was also discussed.

Selected microbiological and chemical-toxicological hazards associated with the production of fermented meat products are discussed in terms of technological interventions required for their reduction and control. The complexity of this production imposes the need for a strict implementation of good hygiene and manufacturing practices, given that a number of hazards occur and transfer along the food chain, while some are generated by technological interventions undertaken during meat processing. Hazards of the first kind arise due to the microbiota resistant to antimicrobial agents, while hazards of the second kind arise due to the presence of biogenic amines, mycotoxins and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Nevertheless, public health importance of fermented meat products is neither lesser nor greater than that of other foodstuffs. Challenging technological measures and risk control strategies give an added value to this kind of meat products.

This paper reports the performance of hyperspectral imaging for detecting the adulteration in red-meat species. Line-scanning images are acquired from muscles of lamb, beef, or pork. We consider the states of fresh, frozen, or thawed meat. For each case, packing and unpacking the sample with a transparent bag is considered and evaluated. Meat muscles are defined either as a class of lamb, or as a class of beef or pork. For visualization purposes, fat regions are also considered. We investigate raw spectral features, normalized spectral features, and a combination of spectral and spatial features by using texture properties. Results show that adding texture features to normalized spectral features achieves the best performance, with a 92.8% overall classification accuracy independently of the state of the products. The resulting model provides a high and balanced sensitivity for all classes at all meat stages. The resulting model yields 94% and 90% average sensitivities for detecting lamb or the other meat type, respectively. This paper shows that hyperspectral imaging analysis provides a rapid, reliable, and non-destructive method for detecting the adulteration in red-meat products.

The leather industry is one of the oldest and fast-growing industries in the world and plays a significant role today’s economic global economy. Leather is a versatile, flexible, and sustainable by-product of the meat industry used in the manufacture of a wide range of products. Despite its significant contributions to income generation and foreign exchanges, leather manufacturing has often been ranked as one of the most polluting industrial activities worldwide.

Meat scientists and industries are constantly searching for natural and environmentally friendly ways to improve the tenderness of their meat products. There is also a search for appropriate strategies for treating or valorizing protein wastes generated from meat-processing operations. A promising way to achieve both goals is by applying proteases obtained from plant sources. Plant proteases are preferred over proteases of microbial origin for many reasons such as: (1) plant proteases are functional over a broad range of temperature and pH; (2) there are less concerns surrounding possible toxicity or biohazard risk as their source of origin are often from readily consumable food materials; and (3) they may provide additional incomes for farmers. Therefore, with such specifications, plant-based proteases with properties suitable for applications in meat industries remain an interesting field of research. This chapter will provide an overview of discovered plant proteases and their applications in meat processing and meat waste utilization.

The present study aimed to evaluate the risk of developing UL-WMSDs in a pig meat processing plant using the OCRA checklist. The study was conducted in a company with 3000 workers. The average of occupational repetitive actions performed by workers was 64.1 ± 14.3 per minute, representing nine points in the OCRA’s scale. The average score of OCRA’s checklist was 22.2 ± 7.7, which is considered as a moderate risk. The scores for the right upper limb (22.2 ± 7.8 - moderate risk) did not differ (p = 0.192) from the left upper limb (21.6 ± 8.1 - moderate risk). Considering the five risk categories proposed by the OCRA method, six work tasks were considered as high risk (27%) and 16 represented moderate risk (73%). When performing simulations, in 19 of the 22 activities it was possible to reduce the risk of UL-WMSDs to very low levels, by reducing only the working pace (−46.7 ± 14.8%).

The study of the occupational thermal environment must take into account the need to obtain acceptable conditions in terms of health and comfort. The aim of the present study was to evaluate thermal comfort in a meat processing industry. Measurements of temperature, relative humidity and air velocity were carried out for all workstations. Measurements (N = 21) were performed during 5 min, for each thermal amplitude, with the presence of the worker after analyses of workers clothing. After the measurements, “Predicted Mean Vote” and “Predicted Percentage of Dissatisfied” were calculated, for a subsequent proposal of prevention and protection measures. The results demonstrate the need to implement preventive measures to mitigate possible health effects for workers exposed to various thermal environments (design, organizational, material/structural, personal protection and medical surveillance). In conclusion an inadequate thermal environment can rise to psychological discomfort, absenteeism, reduced productivity, increased frequency of accidents and physiological effects.

Population growth and rising per capita consumption of meat is growing and is expected to further accelerate in future. The production of beef is undoubtedly an high environmental stressor due to land-use change, water and energy consumption and by-products production. This paper focuses on the distribution and transportation processes of the beef slaughtering’s by-products throughout their proper valorization chains. A methodology, inspired to the LCA, and encompassing data collection, simulation, and multi-scenario analysis is proposed and illustrated. This is applied to a real-world case study from the meat industry to showcase the importance of reconciling plant and network design to address both economic and environmental sustainability.

Fermented meats are traditional processed meat products of great historical, regional and cultural importance. The meat industry is at a crossroads: it is attempting to balance the traditional elements of these products to ensure their historical authenticity (i.e. sensory profile, methodologies), while embracing a more contemporary innovative approach to deliver more consistent, convenient and above all, safe-fermented products that are demanded from the modern consumer. Higher degrees of consistency can be achieved through careful selection of starter cultures, standardisation of processing methodologies and modelling techniques, such as analytical and mechanistic models that can better elucidate the underlying biochemical interactions that underpin fermented meats. Improved safety can be addressed by a number of novel, non-thermal processing technologies, including high pressure, irradiation and pulsed UV-light systems that may be useful in decontaminating the raw ingredients prior to fermentation. The contemporary consumer is also considerably more health conscious than in the past and view processed meats, like fermented products, as unhealthy. Therefore, strategies to improving the image and content of fermented products must be considered—reduction of ingredients considered unhealthy (such as salt and nitrite) by smarter use of pigment-forming starter cultures, application of novel processing and development of functional fermented meats, e.g. probiotic meat, are discussed.

Brazil is the largest poultry meat exporter, especially in the form of cut-up parts. Thus, the aim of this study was to evaluate the risks associated with repetitive movements of the upper limbs in meat processing tasks. The study was conducted in a slaughterhouse with 3000 workers that slaughtered 300000 chickens/poultries per day. The OCRA checklist was used to evaluate work tasks. The 22 work tasks analyzed were the following: cutting (n = 11); chiller (n = 1); freezing tunnels (n = 1); reception (n = 3) and packing (n = 6). The average of occupational repetitive actions performed by poultry workers was 59.1 ± 18.0 per minute. The average score of OCRA’s checklist was 16.8 ± 4.2 (moderate risk). The scores for the right upper limb (18.3—moderate risk) were significantly higher (p = 0.003) than the contralateral limb (15.3—moderate risk). Two work tasks were considered high risk (9 %); 17 represented moderate risk (77 %), and 3 were considered low risk (14 %).

The influence of the export marketing strategy on export performance by assessment of such contextual factors as generic competitive strategies is considered to be under researched. Generic competitive strategies are recognized as fragmentary referred and the least investigated factors which only recently attracted the attention of individual scientists. The research problem is conveyed in the form of the following question: how does the fit between export marketing strategy and competitive strategy affect export performance? Lithuanian companies which operate in the sector of milk and meat processing and export their products were chosen for the empirical verification. Multiple regression analysis (moderated regression and mediation—path analysis) was used to test the hypotheses. The results of the survey revealed that only the distribution adaptation significantly mediates the relationship between cost leadership and export performance. The decrease of cost leadership manifestation level is associated with a higher degree of distribution adaptation that in turn leads to increased export performance. Moderation perspective disclosed that when the level of cost leadership manifestation is low, a higher degree of distribution adaptation significantly determines better export performance.

Today, the meat processing industry plays an important role in boosting the economy of the region of Alentejo, Portugal, which possesses a strong economic linkage to rural traditional activities. However, several problems have been detected relating to an efficient use of the energy in their productive processes, leading to excessive and unnecessary consumptions, increasing bills and therefore costs of final products, reducing company’s competitiveness and causing increased emissions of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere.

The meat industry is the most important economic activity in the agro-food sector. Globally, the pork meat is the most consumed, beating the poultry. The price of raw materials of natural type is based on reference quotes made from wholesale source products, and those are general prices. The contract wholesales publishes a price every week of the year. In this paper we studied the elements or circumstances, which we have named variables, that influence the price of pork and the quantification of each one’s weight (degree of influence) has on the price quoted. This study is based in fuzzy logic through the use of the theory of expertons developed by Kaufmann (1987) and Kaufmann and Gil Aluja (1993).

This paper presents an optimization model for supporting planning operations in a meat packing plant. The production system considers processing raw material (carcasses) by applying cutting patterns in order to meet a given demand of different products. Major decisions in the planning problem include the number of times each cutting pattern is applied on the available carcasses, the total yield per product and its corresponding levels of inventory at each time period; as a result a Mixed Integer Linear Programming Model (MILP) is proposed. The main contribution is to give an optimal decision that maximizes the economic profit and thereby reducing the shortages for products with the highest profits and the inventory for those with low level demand, taking into account the perishability of the products, labour capacities, and the fact that it may exists different types of carcasses with different yields.

This chapter presents application of material flow cost accounting (MFCA) analysis technique in meatball production. MFCA was used to analyze 6 processes that focused on the cost of positive and negative product occurred along the target production line. The results of MFCA analysis for existing process showed that the main negative product cost was material cost (MC). Thus, the improvement solution was proposed to reduce the cost of negative product of MC. The main material waste occurred at the first process of raw material preparation when melted ice occurred during the temperature reduction during raw material preparation step. To reduce this wastewater from melted ice, the proposed solution was to add a refrigerator instead of using ice for temperature reduction. By this method, the results from MFCA analysis showed that negative material quantity at raw material preparation step was reduced from 47.77 to 3.62 % that gave effects on negative MC reduction from 4.98 to 4.20 %. Consequently, this solution can help in saving production cost as 67,406.67 Baht per year when considering only this product.

Water-holding capacity (WHC) is the ability of muscle to retain naturally occurring moisture in meat. WHC is a growing problem in the meat industry affecting yield and quality of the meat. Numerous methods have been applied to determine WHC such as the bag drip method and filter paper compression. However, such methods of measuring WHC/drip loss are time-consuming. This chapter reviews some of the current methods used for determination of WHC. The chapter will also present a novel method to measure drip loss and hence determine WHC using a microwave cavity. The cavity is first modeled using Ansys High Frequency Structure Simulator (HFSS) which is a 3D full wave EM field simulation package that can be used to design microwave structures. The cavity is then constructed, tested and evaluated in LJMU laboratories. Results obtained using different types of meat such as; pork, chicken, beef and lamb are presented and discussed. Attained results indicate that determination of WHC using microwave spectroscopy is a promising alternative to the exciting methods.