Recent Advances and New Strategies to Improve Meat and Meat Products Quality and Preservation

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 June 2024 | Viewed by 25597

Special Issue Editors


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Meat Technology Center of Galicia, 4 Galicia St., Parque Tecnológico de Galicia, San Cibrao das Viñas, 32900 Ourense, Spain
Interests: meat production; meat quality; lipid oxidation; natural antioxidants; phenolic compounds
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Area Academica de Quimica, Universidad Autonoma del Estado de Hidalgo, Carr. Pachuca-Tulancingo Km. 4.5, Mineral de la Reforma, Hidalgo 42184, Mexico
Interests: innovation and development of food products

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Department of Food Engineering, Faculty of Animal Science and Food Engineering, University of São Paulo (FZEA/USP), Pirassununga, Brazil
Interests: meat processing; meat products; healthier meat products; meat quality; mechanically separated meat; stability of meat and meat products; sensory evaluation of meat and meat products

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CIISA-Centro de Investigação Interdisciplinar em Sanidade Animal, Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária, Universidade de Lisboa, Avenida da Universidade Técnica, 1300-477 Lisboa, Portugal
Interests: food safety; traditional meat products; emergent technologies; protective starters
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The quality of meat and meat products has been a topic of great interest among researchers, producers, professionals of the meat industry, and consumers due to accumulating information about the relation between health and this category of foods being generated and discussed. In this sense, new opportunities have emerged to develop strategies aiming to produce healthier fresh meat and meat products that also preserve or improve safety, shelf life, and sensory attributes. Natural extracts and functional ingredients in animal production and meat product reformulation, strategies and ingredients to reduce and replace essential components (sodium chloride, saturated fat, and nitrate/nitrite salts) of meat products, and advances to understand key aspects of the quality, safety, sensory analysis, and preservation of fresh meat and meat products play central roles in this context. This Special Issue is a collaboration of members of the Healthy Meat Network (funded by CYTED, ref. 119RT0568) and welcomes researchers to submit original studies and reviews about advances and strategies to improve understanding about the quality and preservation of fresh meat and meat products.

Dr. Paulo Eduardo Sichetti Munekata
Dr. Eva Maria Santos
Dr. Marco Trindade
Dr. Maria João Fraqueza
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • animal diet
  • natural ingredients
  • functional compounds
  • meat processing
  • nutritional quality
  • reformulation
  • shelf life
  • sensory analysis

Published Papers (9 papers)

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Research

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16 pages, 1007 KiB  
Article
Quality Assessment of Minced Poultry Products Including Black Fermented Garlic
by Anna Augustyńska-Prejsnar, Miroslava Kačániová, Małgorzata Ormian, Jadwiga Topczewska, Zofia Sokołowicz and Paweł Hanus
Foods 2024, 13(1), 70; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods13010070 - 24 Dec 2023
Viewed by 733
Abstract
The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of the addition of fermented black garlic on the quality of minced poultry products. Treatments were organized in four groups (1%, 2%, 3%, and 4%) containing either black fermented garlic (bg) or fresh [...] Read more.
The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of the addition of fermented black garlic on the quality of minced poultry products. Treatments were organized in four groups (1%, 2%, 3%, and 4%) containing either black fermented garlic (bg) or fresh garlic (fg), and a control (produced without garlic). The quality assessment of minced poultry products included physicochemical properties (weight losses, pH, colour and shear force), microbiological quality (Enterobacteriaceae, total count of bacteria, lactic acid bacteria, and Pseudomonas spp.) and evaluation of sensory attributes. The results showed that the pH values in the black garlic groups, pH 6.06, 6.03, and 6.01, were lower than in the control group, pH 6.16, and tended to decrease during the period of cold storage. As the percentage of black garlic increased, there was a decrease in pH, the value of L* (brightness) from 76.16 in the control group to 48.03 in the group with 4% bg, while the value of b* (yellowing) increased analogously from 12.59 to 16.08. The use of black fermented garlic at 2% as a substitute for fresh garlic is a viable alternative to obtaining product with an acceptable taste and aroma. The addition of 4% black garlic was not acceptable to the assessors. Full article
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11 pages, 779 KiB  
Article
Beef Toughness and the Amount of Greenhouse Gas Emissions as a Function of Localized Electrical Stimulation
by Dawoon Jeong, Young Soon Kim, Hong-Gun Kim and Inho Hwang
Foods 2024, 13(1), 37; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods13010037 (registering DOI) - 21 Dec 2023
Viewed by 766
Abstract
This study investigated the effect of localized electrical stimulation on Hanwoo beef quality. It focused on the chemical and physical properties of the Longissimus thoracis (LT) and Biceps femoris (BF) muscles, and it explored the implications of carbon dioxide (CO2) reduction [...] Read more.
This study investigated the effect of localized electrical stimulation on Hanwoo beef quality. It focused on the chemical and physical properties of the Longissimus thoracis (LT) and Biceps femoris (BF) muscles, and it explored the implications of carbon dioxide (CO2) reduction achieved by accelerating tenderization via localized electrical stimulation. The results show that the application of localized electrical stimulation (45 V) had no significant impact on the TBARS (thiobarbituric acid reactive substances) of either the LT muscle or the BF muscle. Localized electrical stimulation and aging treatments had a significant effect on meat tenderness in the LT and BF muscles, but there was no interactive effect. In particular, the WBsf (Warnar–Bratzler shear force) at 2 days of aging of the electrically stimulated BF muscle was 5.35 kg, which was lower than that of the control group (5.58 kg) after 14 days of aging; however, the effect of WBsf reduction due to aging in the LT muscle was higher than the localized electrical stimulation effect. Estimating CO2 mitigation from a shorter feeding period for Hanwoo steers from 31 months to 26 months may reduce 1.04 kg of CO2-eq emissions associated with the production of a single kilogram of trimmed beef. In conclusion, localized electrical stimulation improved the tenderness of Hanwoo beef and reduced CO2 emissions. Full article
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12 pages, 840 KiB  
Article
Effect of Seawater Curing Agent on the Flavor Profile of Dry-Cured Bacon Determined by Sensory Evaluation, Electronic Nose, and Fatty Composition Analysis
by Sol-Hee Lee and Hack-Youn Kim
Foods 2023, 12(10), 1974; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods12101974 - 12 May 2023
Viewed by 1393
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to check the applicability of seawater as a natural curing agent by analyzing the difference it causes in the flavor of dry-aged bacon. Pork belly was cured for seven days, and dried and aged for twenty-one days. [...] Read more.
The purpose of this study was to check the applicability of seawater as a natural curing agent by analyzing the difference it causes in the flavor of dry-aged bacon. Pork belly was cured for seven days, and dried and aged for twenty-one days. The curing methods included the following: wet curing with salt in water, dry curing with sea salt, brine curing with brine solution, and bittern curing with bittern solution. The seawater-treated groups showed a lower volatile basic nitrogen value than the sea-salt-treated groups (p < 0.05); dry curing showed a higher thiobarbituric acid reactive substance value than other treatments (p < 0.05). Methyl- and butane- volatile compounds and polyunsaturated fatty acids such as g-linolenic and eicosapentaenoic were the highest in the bittern-cured group, lending it superior results compared to those of the control and other treatments in sensory flavor analyses (cheesy and milky). Therefore, bittern is considered to have significant potential as a food-curing agent. Full article
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12 pages, 577 KiB  
Article
Dietary Grape Pomace Supplementation in Lambs Affects the Meat Fatty Acid Composition, Volatile Profiles and Oxidative Stability
by Francesca Bennato, Camillo Martino, Andrea Ianni, Claudia Giannone and Giuseppe Martino
Foods 2023, 12(6), 1257; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods12061257 - 16 Mar 2023
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1329
Abstract
The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of supplementing grape pomace (GP) in lambs’ diets. A total of 30 lambs homogeneous for body weight (13.1 ± 2.1 kg) and age (25–30 days) were randomly allocated into two groups. The control [...] Read more.
The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of supplementing grape pomace (GP) in lambs’ diets. A total of 30 lambs homogeneous for body weight (13.1 ± 2.1 kg) and age (25–30 days) were randomly allocated into two groups. The control group (CTR) received a standard diet for 45 days, while in the same period the experimental group (GP+) was fed with a diet containing 10% GP on a dry matter (DM) basis. The meat samples from the two groups showed no significant differences in drip loss, cooking loss, meat color and total lipid amount. However, the experimental feeding strategy influenced the meat fatty acid composition, with an increase in the relative percentages of stearic, vaccenic and rumenic acids. In particular, the increase in rumenic acids is associated with several health benefits attributed to its high bioactive properties. In cooked meat samples stored for 5 days at 4 °C, the dietary GP supplementation induced an increase in nonanal and 1-octen-3-ol and a significant reduction of hexanal, an indicator of oxidation; this improved resistance to oxidation in the GP+ samples and was also confirmed by the thiobarbituric acid reactive species (TBARS) test. In summary, the present study showed that the dietary GP supplementation was effective in improving the fatty acid composition and the oxidative stability of lamb meat. The use and valorization of the GP as a matrix of interest for zootechnical nutrition can, therefore, represent a suitable strategy for improving the qualitative aspects of animal production. Full article
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12 pages, 2400 KiB  
Article
Antioxidant Effect of Pumpkin Flower (Cucurbita maxima) in Chicken Patties
by Eva María Santos, Jose A. Rodriguez, Jose M. Lorenzo, Alicia C. Mondragón, Mirian Pateiro, Evelin Gutiérrez and Thania Alexandra Ferreira
Foods 2022, 11(15), 2258; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods11152258 - 28 Jul 2022
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2153
Abstract
In this work, the antioxidant effect of pumpkin flower powder was evaluated in chicken patties. For this purpose, three drying methods were proposed to obtain the pumpkin flower powder and preserve its properties (antioxidants, color, odor): foam-mat drying, freeze drying, and oven drying. [...] Read more.
In this work, the antioxidant effect of pumpkin flower powder was evaluated in chicken patties. For this purpose, three drying methods were proposed to obtain the pumpkin flower powder and preserve its properties (antioxidants, color, odor): foam-mat drying, freeze drying, and oven drying. The drying process of the powder plays an important role in the conservation of bioactive compounds. The foam-mat drying method would allow the preservation of these compounds after cooking and after cold storage due to encapsulation like mechanism of the added proteins. Thus, these powders were selected as the most adequate vehicle to incorporate in the formulation, since patties with these additives presented the better antioxidant scores for DPPH, ABTS, and FRAP even after 7 days of storage. In addition, total polyphenolic content and the presence or thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) were better scored in samples with the pumpkin flowers. The incorporation of the pumpkin flower additives in the patty formulation improved sensorial attributes of the chicken patties and consumers acceptance after cold storage. Full article
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6 pages, 399 KiB  
Communication
Use of Focus Group as Selection Method of Descriptors for Check-All-That-Apply (CATA) for Sensory Characteristics of Hot Dogs
by Isabela Rodrigues, Danielle Rodrigues Magalhaes and Marco Antonio Trindade
Foods 2022, 11(3), 269; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods11030269 - 20 Jan 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1493
Abstract
Check-all-that-apply (CATA) is a methodology for sensory product characterization that can be used by consumers. These characteristics, on the other hand, are determined by a trained panel, and consumers are not asked how they perceive these attributes; as a result, some of the [...] Read more.
Check-all-that-apply (CATA) is a methodology for sensory product characterization that can be used by consumers. These characteristics, on the other hand, are determined by a trained panel, and consumers are not asked how they perceive these attributes; as a result, some of the characteristics raised by the trained panel may not be relevant to consumers. In this study, the CATA test was applied to characterize three types of hot dogs, those with or without irradiation and salt reduction, and the focus group (FG) technique was employed to determine the CATA descriptors. Each participant in the FG provided five words (attributes) that, in their opinion, best defined each sample. Then, to understand the meaning and to assemble each of the different terms, a discussion of the defined attributes was conducted. The list of CATA descriptors was compiled using the most often cited attributes. The findings indicate that the major difference in hot dogs was between the formulations with and without sodium reduction. The consumers only noticed minor effects resulting from the irradiation process. The use of focus group as the method to select the CATA descriptors related to hot dogs was proven to be valid since the words that were listed for these samples were attributes that typically characterize hot dog sausages. Full article
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Review

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28 pages, 1038 KiB  
Review
Meat Irradiation: A Comprehensive Review of Its Impact on Food Quality and Safety
by Rossi Indiarto, Arif Nanda Irawan and Edy Subroto
Foods 2023, 12(9), 1845; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods12091845 - 29 Apr 2023
Cited by 14 | Viewed by 4039
Abstract
Food irradiation is a proven method commonly used for enhancing the safety and quality of meat. This technology effectively reduces the growth of microorganisms such as viruses, bacteria, and parasites. It also increases the lifespan and quality of products by delaying spoilage and [...] Read more.
Food irradiation is a proven method commonly used for enhancing the safety and quality of meat. This technology effectively reduces the growth of microorganisms such as viruses, bacteria, and parasites. It also increases the lifespan and quality of products by delaying spoilage and reducing the growth of microorganisms. Irradiation does not affect the sensory characteristics of meats, including color, taste, and texture, as long as the appropriate dose is used. However, its influence on the chemical and nutritional aspects of meat is complex as it can alter amino acids, fatty acids, and vitamins as well as generate free radicals that cause lipid oxidation. Various factors, including irradiation dose, meat type, and storage conditions, influence the impact of these changes. Irradiation can also affect the physical properties of meat, such as tenderness, texture, and water-holding capacity, which is dose-dependent. While low irradiation doses potentially improve tenderness and texture, high doses negatively affect these properties by causing protein denaturation. This research also explores the regulatory and public perception aspects of food irradiation. Although irradiation is authorized and controlled in many countries, its application is controversial and raises concerns among consumers. Food irradiation is reliable for improving meat quality and safety but its implication on the chemical, physical, and nutritional properties of products must be considered when determining the appropriate dosage and usage. Therefore, more research is needed to better comprehend the long-term implications of irradiation on meat and address consumer concerns. Full article
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0 pages, 1696 KiB  
Review
Application of Plant Proteases in Meat Tenderization: Recent Trends and Future Prospects
by Syahira Izyana Mohd Azmi, Pavan Kumar, Neelesh Sharma, Awis Qurni Sazili, Sung-Jin Lee and Mohammad Rashedi Ismail-Fitry
Foods 2023, 12(6), 1336; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods12061336 - 21 Mar 2023
Cited by 15 | Viewed by 7850 | Correction
Abstract
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 [...] Read more.
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. Full article
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21 pages, 777 KiB  
Review
Development of Healthier and Functional Dry Fermented Sausages: Present and Future
by Noelí Sirini, Paulo E. S. Munekata, José M. Lorenzo, María Ángeles Stegmayer, Mirian Pateiro, José Ángel Pérez-Álvarez, Néstor Sepúlveda, María Elena Sosa-Morales, Alfredo Teixeira, Juana Fernández-López, Laureano Frizzo and Marcelo Rosmini
Foods 2022, 11(8), 1128; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods11081128 - 14 Apr 2022
Cited by 20 | Viewed by 4128
Abstract
In recent years, consumer perception about the healthiness of meat products has changed. In this scenario, the meat industry and the scientific and technological areas have put their efforts into improving meat products and achieving healthier and functional formulations that meet the demands [...] Read more.
In recent years, consumer perception about the healthiness of meat products has changed. In this scenario, the meat industry and the scientific and technological areas have put their efforts into improving meat products and achieving healthier and functional formulations that meet the demands of today’s market and consumers. This article aims to review the current functional fermented meat products, especially on sausage development. Firstly, an emphasis is given to reducing and replacing traditional ingredients associated with increased risk to consumer’s health (sodium, fat, and nitrites), adding functional components (prebiotics, probiotics, symbiotics, and polyphenols), and inducing health benefits. Secondly, a look at future fermented sausages is provided by mentioning emerging strategies to produce innovative healthier and functional meat products. Additional recommendations were also included to assist researchers in further development of healthier and functional sausages. Full article
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