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Special Issue "Novel Approaches to Improve Meat Quality and Safety"

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A special issue of Foods (ISSN 2304-8158). This special issue belongs to the section "Meat".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 1 July 2023 | Viewed by 3589

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Lihui Du

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

College of Food and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Ningbo University, Ningbo, China
Interests: meat proteins; non-thermal technology; value-added meat processing

Dr. Changyu Zhou

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

College of Food and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Ningbo University, Ningbo, China
Interests: meat; meat science; meat processing; green technologies; meat flavor; safety of meat products; nutrition of meat products
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The aim of this Special Issue is to inspire the innovation of knowledge and technology in the topic of “Novel Approaches to Improve Meat Quality and Safety”. Specifically, this Special Issue should include but is not limited to the following fields: i) Novel technologies such as non-thermal technologies that are employed to enhance meat safety; ii) Novel technologies that are used to improve quality-related characteristics of meat; iii) The effect of the novel technology and the potential mechanisms; iv) chemical modifications for meat quality and safety improvement; v) novel natural ingredients for controlling meat quality and safety; vi) novel approaches for meat quality and safety inspection.

Dr. Lihui Du
Dr. Changyu Zhou
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Foods is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

meat quality and safety
non-thermal technologies
chemical modifications
novel approaches for meat inspection

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

Open AccessArticle

¹H NMR Reveals the Mechanism of Potassium Lactate on Proteolysis and Taste Metabolites of Rugao Ham

and

Foods 2023, 12(7), 1453; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods12071453 - 29 Mar 2023

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Abstract

To deepen the understanding of the effect of potassium lactate on the taste of Rugao ham, proteolysis index, enzyme activities and protein degradation of Rugao ham salted with potassium lactate (0%, 0.5%, 1%, 2%) were investigated. Metabolites of Rugao ham were identified by ¹H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and the metabolic pathways of the key metabolites were enriched by the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG); the relationship between taste and metabolites was assessed by partial least square discriminant analysis (PLS-DA). The hams with 2% potassium lactate showed lower cathepsin B and L activities, and higher aminopeptidase activities than that of the control group. The contents of free amino acids and organic acids significantly increased from the control to the treatment of 2% potassium lactate. PLS-DA further demonstrated that aspartate, glutamate, alanine, serine, threonine, acetate, lactate, succinate, carnosine, β-glucose and glycerol were the key metabolites to improve the taste of Rugao ham in the treatment of 2% potassium lactate. Metabolic pathways analysis further demonstrated that amino acids metabolism was the main pathway for the taste development of Rugao ham. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Novel Approaches to Improve Meat Quality and Safety)

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Open AccessArticle

Effect of Two-Step Sous Vide Cooking and Storage on Microbiological and Oxidative Stability of Chicken Breast

László Ferenc Friedrich

and

György Kenesei

Foods 2023, 12(6), 1213; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods12061213 - 13 Mar 2023

Viewed by 703

Abstract

A two-step sous vide method, which included a low temperature initial stage, was shown to improve texture parameters, increase the solubility of proteins, and decrease the cook loss in chicken breasts. The current work was designed to determine the effect of two-step sous vide and subsequent storage on the microbiological and oxidative stability of chicken breasts. Inoculated chicken breasts were vacuum packaged and cooked at two temperatures, 50 °C and 60 °C, combined in different ratios of the same total cooking time (120 min), and then stored for 21 days at 4 °C, 10 °C, and −20 °C, and compared with the one-step temperature treatment (60 °C for 120 min). One-step sous vide treatment resulted in the total inactivation of Enterococcus faecalis NCAIM B. 01312. Meanwhile, the two-step sous vide treatments resulted in a higher than 3 log reduction in Enterococcus faecalis NCAIM B. 01312, reaching the target pasteurization performance criterion of sous vide for poultry meat. Lipid oxidation and the odor of all chicken breasts remained acceptable for 21 days of storage at 4 °C and −20 °C. Conversely, all chicken breasts had higher lipid oxidation rates and odor after 21 days of storage at 10 °C. Two-step-sous-vide-treated chicken breasts were found to be microbiologically stable regarding Enterococcus faecalis NCAIM B. 01312 and total mesophilic aerobic counts during 21 days of storage at 4 °C and −20 °C, in contrast with those stored at 10 °C. It can be concluded that two-step-sous-vide-cooked chicken breasts had acceptable oxidative and microbiological stability during chilled and frozen storage, similar to one-step sous vide ones. These outcomes highlight that two-step heat treatment can be used as an alternative cooking method to improve the quality properties without compromising the storage life of chicken breasts. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Novel Approaches to Improve Meat Quality and Safety)

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Open AccessArticle

Enhanced Gel Properties of Duck Myofibrillar Protein by Plasma-Activated Water: Through Mild Structure Modifications

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Foods 2023, 12(4), 877; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods12040877 - 18 Feb 2023

Viewed by 643

Abstract

This study assessed the gel properties and conformational changes of duck myofibrillar protein (DMP) affected by plasma-activated water (PAW) generated at various discharge times (0 s, 10 s, 20 s, 30 s, and 40 s). With the treatment of PAW-20 s, the gel strength and water-holding capacity (WHC) of DMP gels were significantly increased when compared to the control group. Throughout the heating process, dynamic rheology revealed that the PAW-treated DMP had a higher storage modulus than the control. The hydrophobic interactions between protein molecules were significantly improved by PAW, resulting in a more ordered and homogeneous gel microstructure. The increased sulfhydryl and carbonyl content in DMP indicated a higher degree of protein oxidation with PAW treatment. Additionally, the circular dichroism spectroscopy demonstrated that PAW induced α-helix and β-turn transformed to β-sheet in DMP. Surface hydrophobicity, fluorescence spectroscopy, and UV absorption spectroscopy suggested that PAW altered DMP’s tertiary structure, although the electrophoretic pattern indicated that the primary structure of DMP was mostly unaffected. These results suggest that PAW can improve the gel properties of DMP through mild alteration in its conformation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Novel Approaches to Improve Meat Quality and Safety)

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Open AccessArticle

Effect of Different Cooking Treatments on the Residual Level of Nitrite and Nitrate in Processed Meat Products and Margin of Safety (MoS) Assessment

and

Foods 2023, 12(4), 869; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods12040869 - 17 Feb 2023

Viewed by 841

Abstract

Nitrite and nitrate are well-known food additives used in cured meats and linked to different food safety concerns. However, no study about the possible effect of cooking treatment on the residual level of these compounds before consumption is available. In this work, 60 samples of meat products were analyzed in order to evaluate the variation in residual nitrite and nitrate level after baking, grilling and boiling. The analyses by ion chromatography demonstrated that meat cooking leads to a decrease in nitrite and an increase in nitrate residual levels in the final products. Meat boiling caused an overall decrease in two additives’ concentration, while baking and particularly grilling caused an increase in nitrate and, in some cases, nitrite as well. Some regulatory aspects were also considered, such as the possibility of revising the legal limit of nitrate from the actual 150 mg kg⁻¹ to a more cautious 100 mg kg⁻¹. Indeed, several meat samples (bacon and swine fresh sausage) resulted in a higher nitrate concentration than the legal limit after cooking by grilling (eleven samples) or baking (five samples). Finally, the Margin of Safety evaluation demonstrated a good level of food safety, all values being higher than the protective threshold of 100. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Novel Approaches to Improve Meat Quality and Safety)

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Special Issue "Novel Approaches to Improve Meat Quality and Safety"

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