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The present study was undertaken to assess the effect of coating added with clove essential oil on meat quality attributes of rabbit meat. The fresh rabbit meat was divided into 4 treatments viz., C (control)-without coating, T1-alginate coating, T2- alginate coating with 0.2% clove essential oil, and T3- alginate coating with 0.5% clove essential oil. The samples were aerobically packaged in low-density polyethylene (LDPE) packs and stored under refrigeration (4±1ºC) for 7 days. The samples were assessed on day 0 (before keeping the samples in refrigeration), days 1, 3, 5, and 7 for pH, cooking loss, colour profile, and sensory attributes. The alginate coating was observed to significantly (p<0.05) increase the pH value of the raw rabbit meat samples. Throughout the storage, the raw C sample recorded significantly (p<0.05) lower pH values than those of the raw-treated samples. The coating of the rabbit meat sample did not have any significant effect on the cooking loss except on day 0 of storage. With the advancement of the storage period, the treated samples retained a better colour and sensory attribute. The T3 sample had the highest sensory scores throughout the storage period. Thus, alginate coating added with 0.5% clove essential oil could be used to improve the quality of rabbit meat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The present study evaluated the effect of preslaughter stress intensities on the behavioral, physiological, blood biochemicals, and hormonal responses in goats. Methods: Twenty-seven intact male goats (Ardi breed, 10 months of age, 27 kg liveweight) were divided into three treatment groups viz., the control (C) group, ear pulling (EP) group, and leg pulling (LP) group. Various behavioral, physiological, blood biochemical and hormonal responses were recorded before and after handling. Results and Discussion: The EP and LP goats had a higher frequency and intensity of vocalization as compared to control goats. The preslaughter handling stress intensities had a significant effect on the before and after handling values of heart rate, respiration rate, rectal temperature, and ear temperature. Further, among groups, the glucose value increased significantly upon preslaughter handling as compared to the baseline value. The LP goats had significantly higher after-handling value for lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) as compared to the before-handling value. The catecholamines (adrenaline and noradrenaline) and β-endorphin concentrations increased significantly upon preslaughter handling. The higher physiological, behavioral, blood biochemical, and hormonal response indicated higher preslaughter stress in EP and LP goats. Both levels of intensity revealed unfavorable responses in goats that may adversely affect animal welfare and meat quality. Thus, to ensure minimal adverse effects on behavior, physiology, blood enzymes, and hormonal responses, it is recommended to follow animal welfare principles when implementing preslaughter handling practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: A sharp knife of appropriate dimension (blade length) is very important during halal and kosher slaughtering of animals without stunning for a rapid and clean neck severance. It improves bleeding and alleviates pain and stress in animals by early onset of unconsciousness. An efficient bleed-out improves meat quality and food safety. With the ever-increasing demand for halal and kosher meat due to its awareness, authenticity, nutritive value, and animal welfare compliance, there is an urgent need to emphasize the role of knife sharpness during slaughter as per the prescribed religious practices. Other issues such as neck cut positions, blade length of the knife, proper training of slaughterhouse workers, infrastructure, and constant monitoring of the slaughtering process also need to be addressed to improve animal welfare and meat quality. Halal and kosher slaughter have given the utmost importance to the sharpness of knives during the slaughter of animals. A sharp knife of appropriate dimension (blade length) makes slaughter less painful during neck severance and facilitates desirable bleeding. The role of knife sharpness has not been given due credit from an animal welfare perspective and is likely ignored by the people involved in slaughterhouses. A neat, clean, and efficient neck cut by an extremely sharp knife reduces the pain. It improves the bleeding out, thus making animals unconscious early without undergoing unnecessary pain and stress. It also helps in improving meat quality and food safety. A slight incremental improvement in knife sharpness could significantly improve the animal welfare, productivity, efficiency, and safety of meat plant workers. The present review critically analyzed the significance of knife sharpness in religious slaughter by reducing stress and pain and improving meat quality and food safety. The objective quantification of knife sharpness, proper regular training of slaughterers, and slow slaughter rate are the challenges faced by the meat industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Papain, bromelain, and ficin are commonly used plant proteases used for meat tenderization. Other plant proteases explored for meat tenderization are actinidin, zingibain, and cucumin. The application of plant crude extracts or powders containing higher levels of compounds exerting tenderizing effects is also gaining popularity due to lower cost, improved sensory attributes of meat, and the presence of bioactive compounds exerting additional benefits in addition to tenderization, such as antioxidants and antimicrobial effects. The uncontrolled plant protease action could cause excessive tenderization (mushy texture) and poor quality due to an indiscriminate breakdown of proteins. The higher cost of separation and the purification of enzymes, unstable structure, and poor stability of these enzymes due to autolysis are some major challenges faced by the food industry. The meat industry is targeting the recycling of enzymes and improving their stability and shelf-life by immobilization, encapsulation, protein engineering, medium engineering, and stabilization during tenderization. The present review critically analyzed recent trends and the prospects of the application of plant proteases in meat tenderization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rabbit meat is an excellent source of high-quality proteins, essential fatty acids, vitamins, and minerals, which can be further improved through various management, preslaughter, and post-slaughter interventions. Rabbit meat consumption is popular in certain regions of the world. The multidimensional role of rabbits as pet, pest, and laboratory animals, lack of proper knowledge among consumers towards the nutritive value of rabbit meat, animal welfare, and ethical issues, sustainable potential, undeveloped marketing, and processing chain, and price parity with available cheap meat and non-meat alternatives, are some constraints in the rabbit meat production. Increasing awareness of the nutritive value, positive health effects of rabbit meat consumption and production chain, development of processed meat products, and proper animal welfare compliance in rabbit production could improve consumer acceptance. The present manuscript reviewed various factors that affect the meat quality and consumer acceptance of rabbit meat for a more sustainable and viable source for global meat supply. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the continuous rise of Muslim and Jewish populations and their increasing preference for ritually slaughtered poultry meat, the industry is forced to redefine its existing product-centric quality standard toward a new consumer-centric dimension of quality. The new dimension is mainly attributed to ensuring animal welfare and ethical treatment (ethical quality), spiritual quality (such as halal status, cleanliness), and eating quality standards set by religion. To meet consumer quality requirements while maintaining high production performance, the industry has incorporated newer technologies that are compatible with religious regulations such as stunning methods like electrical water bath stunning. However, the introduction of new techniques such as electrical water bath stunning has been met with mixed reactions. Some religious scholars have banned the use of any stunning methods in religious slaughter, as halal status is believed to be compromised in cases where birds have been stunned to death before slaughter. Nevertheless, some studies have shown the positive side of the electrical water bath stunning procedure in terms of preserving eating, ethical, and spiritual quality. Therefore, the present study aims to critically analyze the application of various aspects of electrical water bath stunning such as current intensity and frequency on various quality attributes, namely, ethical, spiritual, and eating quality of poultry meat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fermentation of meat is a traditional preservation method used widely for improving quality and shelf life of fermented meat products. Fermentation of meat causes a number of physical, biochemical, and microbial changes, which eventually impart functional properties, sensory characteristics, and nutritional aspects to these products and inhibit the growth of various pathogenic and spoilage microorganisms. These changes include acidification (carbohydrate catabolism), solubilization and gelation of myofibrillar and sarcoplasmic proteins of muscle, degradation of proteins and lipids, reduction of nitrate into nitrite, formation of nitrosomyoglobin, and dehydration. Dry-fermented sausages are increasingly being used as carrier of probiotics. The production of biogenic amines during fermentation can be controlled by selecting proper starter cultures and other preventive measures such as quality of raw materials, hygienic measures, temperature, etc. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Stress induces various physiological and biochemical alterations in the animal body, which are used to assess the stress status of animals. Blood profiles, serum hormones, enzymes, and physiological conditions such as body temperature, heart, and breathing rate of animals are the most commonly used stress biomarkers in the livestock sector. Previous exposure, genetics, stress adaptation, intensity, duration, and rearing practices result in wide intra- and inter-animal variations in the expression of various stress biomarkers. The use of meat proteomics by adequately analyzing the expression of various muscle proteins such as heat shock proteins (HSPs), acute phase proteins (APPs), texture, and tenderness biomarkers help predict meat quality and stress in animals before slaughter. Thus, there is a need to identify non-invasive, rapid, and accurate stress biomarkers that can objectively assess stress in animals. The present manuscript critically reviews various aspects of stress biomarkers in animals and their application in mitigating preslaughter stress in meat production. • A rapid assessment of preslaughter stressors is crucial for to allevate stress. • Various behavioral, physiological, metabolomics, and proteomics expressions are used for assessing the preslaughter stress. • A rapid, sensitive, and accurate assessment of stress biomarkers in modern high throughput abattoirs is the need of the hour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the years, the handling of goats (loading, transport, unloading, time spent in lairage) prior to slaughter as well as the slaughter process (stunning, and bleeding) has largely applied to other livestock which impairs the wellbeing of goats as well as their products due to the difference in behavior among species. Numerous factors (feeding management, production systems, environmental conditions, and physiological status of the animals) predispose goats to pre-slaughter stress, resulting in increased stress responses during the transport, lairage, and slaughter process that influence the meat quality attributes. Goats are more susceptible to pre-slaughter stress relative to other ruminants. In this review, stress factors relating to goats, indicators as well as management, were elucidated which will assist producers in making informed decisions on minimizing goat stress for the betterment of the meat quality and goat industry as a whole. • Pre-slaughter stress control of goats is of great importance to ensure animal welfare principles. • The attitude and temperament of animal handlers should be gentle and have basic knowledge of animal behavior • Physiological responses to stress in goats are reviewed. • Possibilities for a non-invasive stress biomarker are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose -- This paper aims to focus on the effect of Sorghum bicolour on the quality characteristics of chevon cutlets and to evaluate the effect of clove oil on the storage quality of aerobically packaged chevon cutlets. Design/methodology/approach -- Three levels of sorghum flour, namely, 2, 4 and 6 per cent, were incorporated in the formulation, and the products developed were assessed for various physicochemical, sensory, texture and colour parameters. Chevon cutlets containing optimum level of sorghum flour were treated with clove oil (100 ppm) and evaluated for storage quality for 15 days under refrigerated conditions (4 ± 1°C). The products were analysed for various physicochemical, microbiological and sensory parameters. Findings -- Crude fibre, texture parameters, i.e. hardness, adhesiveness, springiness, cohesiveness, chewiness, gumminess and product redness value, showed significant (p < 0.05) increasing trend, whereas moisture per cent, fat content and overall acceptability decreased significantly (p < 0.05) with increasing levels of incorporation. Chevon cutlets containing 6 per cent sorghum flour were optimized as best. Thiobarbituric acid-reactive substance value (mg malonaldehyde/kg), total plate count (cfu/g) and psychrophillic count (cfu/g) showed a significant increasing trend (p < 0.05), whereas all the sensory parameters decreased significantly (p < 0.05) with increasing days of storage. The products were successfully stored for 10 days under refrigerated conditions (4 ± 1°C) without marked loss in quality. Originality/value -- The paper has demonstrated the potential of sorghum as a fibre source in the development of designer chevon cutlets and effect of clove oil on the storage quality of aerobically packaged chevon cutlets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The implementation of the head-only electrical stunning procedure in poultry processing has been aimed at enhancing eating, ethical, and religious quality. However, inconsistencies in voltage and frequency standardization, along with variations in previous research outcomes, have led to numerous cases of both under-stunned and over-stunned birds. Thus, this study aimed to comprehensively evaluate the effects of varying voltages and frequencies during electrical water bath stunning on carcass quality, meat attributes, and textural properties in broiler chickens. A cohort of 240 healthy female broilers (Cobb 500, 42-days-old, 2 kg ± 0.1 kg) was meticulously selected from a commercial farm. The birds underwent exposure to different stunning voltages (2.5, 10.5, 30, and 40 V) and frequencies (50 and 300 Hz). Subsequent analyses were conducted on meat samples to assess physicochemical properties, carcass quality, and textural attributes. The findings revealed a higher incidence of petechial hemorrhage (P < 0.05) in birds stunned at 10.5 V compared to other voltage. Notably, no broken bones were recorded in birds subjected to high voltages (30 and 40 V). Low frequency (50 Hz) significantly increased the occurrence of petechial hemorrhage and simultaneously resulted in pectoralis major muscle with decreased redness (a*). Birds subjected to the 10.5 V stunning treatment exhibited a lower cooking loss percentage. Significant interactions between voltage and ageing (V × A) were observed. Birds stunned at 30 V and aged for 7 d displayed highest drip loss compared to a one-day ageing period across different voltage levels. This interaction also impacted pH values, with birds subjected to 10.5 V showing significantly lower (P < 0.05) pH at d 7 of ageing. The meat hardness was influenced by the V × A interaction, wherein birds stunned at 10.5 V exhibited lower hardness after one day of ageing compared to other voltage levels. Red wing tips, lightness (L*), adhesiveness, and resilience were also significantly impacted (P < 0.05) by the interaction between frequency and voltage. A notable 3-way interaction was observed for gumminess and chewiness (F × V × A), where the 2-way interaction between frequency and voltage (F × V) affected both parameters differently at various ageing periods. Additionally, there was a significant interaction (P < 0.05) between frequency and voltage influencing shear strength and yellowness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Protein hydrolysates were recovered from porcine blood hydrolysate (PBH) using enzymatic hydrolysis viz. alcalase, trypsin and papain. The PBH were ultra-filtered by using molecular weight cut off, these PBH and different fractions were evaluated for antioxidant and antimicrobial activity. The PBH and fractions were assessed for antioxidant efficacy viz. 2, 2-azino-bis (3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulfonic acid), 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl and Ferric reducing antioxidant power assay and antimicrobial activity by zone of inhibition assay. All antioxidant parameters assessed for inhibition activity were observed significantly (P < 0.05) higher for whole PBH whereas among fractions (5–10 kDa), (1–5 kDa) for all hydrolysates had comparatively higher antioxidant efficacy. The results showed that PBH obtained from trypsin and its fractions have highest antioxidant activities. The antimicrobial efficacy was also higher for whole PBH than their respective fractions; however, the zone of inhibition varied significantly (P < 0.05) among different fractions. Results revealed that among enzymes trypsin and alcalase could produce peptides with comparatively higher antimicrobial activity for all tested microbes than papain. The results concluded that porcine blood hydrolysates can be fractioned to get lower molecular weight peptides of interest; however, for addition of whole PBH in meat products or other use could be more useful with regards to its antioxidant, antimicrobial activity and economic production. Natural food preservatives derived from blood can be an alternative for artificial additives widely used in food and the pharmaceutical industry. Hydrolysates obtained by enzymatic hydrolysis of porcine blood were assessed for their antioxidant and antimicrobial efficacy. The study revealed that porcine blood hydrolysate (whole and fractions) can be a potential source of natural preservatives for shelf-life extension in food. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of present study was to explore the effects of incorporation of camel milk casein hydrolysates in goat meat emulsion. Camel milk casein hydrolysed by Alcalase was incorporated into goat meat emulsion at three different levels viz. T1: 0.03%, T2: 0.06% and T3: 0.09% (w/w) and compared with control (C: 0% hyrolysate) and positive control (PC: 0.02% Butylated Hydroxy Toluene (BHT), w/w) for its physico-chemical, antioxidant potential and antimicrobial effect against selected food spoilage and pathogenic microorganisms. During storage at refrigeration temperature (4 ± 1 °C), pH increased while water activity, extract release volume and emulsion stability decreased significantly (P < 0.05) on 6th day, however, all these properties were improved in treated emulsions. The antioxidant potential of treated emulsions were improved in a dose-dependent manner, however, PC had significantly higher antioxidant activities. The peroxide value, TBARS and free fatty acid values were significantly (P < 0.05) lower than untreated emulsion throughout the storage period. The lightness ( L* ), redness ( a* value) and yellowness ( b* ) values decreased with the advancement of storage period; however, treated emulsions had better instrumental colour profile than control. In treated emulsions, the standard plate and coliform counts were initially reduced during storage, and on 6th day of storage, it was significantly lower than C and PC. In microbial challenging test (MCT), the colony forming units of all the tested pathogens in treated emulsions decreased upto 4th day, thereafter increased significantly on 6th day, whereas, in C and PC groups, the counts of all microorganisms increased significantly throughout the storage period. The findings suggested that camel milk casein hydrolysate could be a potential food ingredient which not only improves the physico-chemical properties of meat emulsion thereby increased yield, it also provides oxidative and microbial stability during refrigerated storage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]