Search Results (8)

Minced lamb remains one of the most produced meat products in the meat industry, across both the food service and retail sectors. Tea polyphenols (TPs), renowned for their diverse biological activities, are increasingly being employed as natural food additives in research and development. Tea polyphenols at concentrations of 0.00% (CG), 0.01% (TP1), 0.10% (TP2), and 0.30% (TP3) were added to lamb which had undergone a series of freeze–thaw cycles. The presence of tea polyphenols led to a significant decrease in the number of disulfide bonds, resulting in a slower oxidation rate. In addition, the surface hydrophobicity and juice loss of the minced lamb supplemented with tea polyphenols were 91.23 ± 0.22 and 20.00 ± 0.46, respectively, representing a reduction of 1.5% and 7.59% compared to the group without the addition of tea polyphenols. However, the addition of high-dose tea polyphenols also led to a reduction in emulsification stability, alterations in protein conformation, and changes in water migration. Furthermore, the incorporation of a minimal quantity of tea polyphenols (0.01%) resulted in enhanced emulsification stability, water retention, textural properties, and microstructures in minced lamb. This suggests that tea polyphenols have the potential to improve the quality of minced lamb following freezing and thawing processes. Full article

When stored at chill temperatures, vacuum-packed (VP) lamb has a much shorter shelf-life than VP beef, primarily due to its higher pH, which could be linked to the higher fat content. The higher pH would create more favourable conditions for the growth of spoilage bacteria, resulting in a shorter shelf-life of meat. To determine the effects of fat on meat shelf-life as it relates to pH, a series of shelf-life trials at 2 °C were conducted using VP beef and lamb mince with varying fat contents (i.e., control with ~5%, 20%, and 50%) as a model system to red meat primal cuts. The results showed that higher fat content reduced the shelf-life of VP beef mince by 24% and lamb mince by 12.5%. This reduction was accompanied by significantly (p < 0.05) decreased glucose and lactic acid levels. Throughout storage, a higher fat content in beef and lamb mince generally resulted in a higher pH by 0.1 (p < 0.05) compared to the respective controls. Higher fat content mince also had faster lactic acid bacteria growth rates (by up to 0.13 Log10 CFU/g/day) and higher maximum populations of presumptive enteric bacteria up to 1.3 Log₁₀ CFU/g (p < 0.05). These results suggest that fat content can negatively influence the shelf-life of VP red meat through lowering glucose and lactic acid levels, raising the pH, and increasing LAB growth rate and maximum population levels of presumptive enteric bacteria. Full article

In view of the phenomenon that adulterated lamb with other animal-derived meats in the market could not be quickly identified, this study used visible near-infrared spectroscopy combined with chemometric methods to quickly identify and quantify lamb rolls adulterated with chicken, duck, and pork. The spectra of the visible–near-infrared band (350–1000 nm) and near-infrared band (1000–1700 nm) of 360 lamb samples, which were mixed with chicken, duck, pork, and 10% lamb oil separately in different increasing proportions, were collected. It was found that the qualitative models of heterogeneous meat (adulterated with chicken, duck, and pork) in lamb were constructed by the combination of first derivative and multiplicative scatter correction (MSC); the accuracy of the validation set reached 100%; the meantime accuracy of the cross-validation set reached 100% (pure lamb), 98.3% (adulterated with chicken), 98.7% (adulterated with duck), and 97.3% (adulterated with pork). Furthermore, the correlation coefficient (R²c) of the adulterated chicken, pork, and duck quantitative prediction models reached 0.972 (chicken), 0.981 (pork), and 0.985 (duck). In summary, the use of Vis NIR can identify lamb meat mixed with chicken, duck, and pork and can quantitatively predict the content of adulterated meat. Full article

Knowledge of micronutrient content of commercial plant-based meat alternatives (PBMAs) is limited. This study aimed to identify changes in micronutrient content of PBMAs over time, as well as how micronutrient levels of PBMAs compare to similar meat products using product audit data. An online audit of PBMAs in Tesco and Sainsbury’s was conducted in 2021 and 2023. On-pack information was extracted and inputted into Excel. Products were categorised, with categories containing on-pack micronutrient content for ≥2 products compared with similar meat products using data from Nutritics software and descriptive statistics applied. Nutrient claim thresholds were used to determine how many PBMAs were eligible to make a ‘source of’ or ‘high in’ claim for vitamin B12 (≥0.38 μg and ≥0.75 μg/100 g, respectively) and iron (≥2.1 mg and ≥4.2 mg/100 g, respectively). Results: Around 7% of products (n = 23/351 in 2021 and n = 22/324 in 2023) reported vitamin B12 content on-pack and 8% of products reported iron content on-pack (n = 28/351 for 2021 and n = 25/324 for 2023). All products contained levels adequate to make a ‘source of’ claim, with around 22% (2021) and 41% (2023) of these products eligible to make a ‘high in vitamin B12’ claim and 14% (2021) and 28% (2023) eligible to make a ‘high in iron’ claim. Median vitamin B12 and iron content/100 g was higher in 2023 products for 5/6 and 4/5 categories, respectively, with no change in the other category. For 2023 data, PBMAs had lower mean vitamin B12 contents/100 g in 4/6 categories compared to meat products (0.6–1.8 μg for PBMAs vs. 0.0–3.0 μg for meat products). For all six categories (burgers, mince, beef, pork, chicken, and lamb), PBMAs had higher mean iron contents/100 g than comparable meat categories (2.8–6.8 mg for PBMAs vs. 0.4–2.7 mg for meat products). Magnesium, zinc, calcium, vitamin A, and folic acid contents were listed on ≤1 product per category. Discussion: Vitamin B12 and iron contents of the PBMAs included in these audits appear to be increasing over time, however, levels of vitamin B12 need to increase to equate to those of red meat. Further fortification represents an option for improving the micronutrient profile of PBMAs to reflect levels in comparable meat products. Full article

Objectives. The current study aimed to investigate the prevalence of Clostridium perfringens in meat products at meat fairs in four cities of West Kazakhstan from April to October 2021. Methods. In total, 240 samples were collected and subsequently examined for the presence of Clostridium perfringens and its associated toxins using a standard culture method and multiplex PCR assay. Results. In the 240 samples, 67 (30%) tested positive for Clostridium perfringens. All isolates were classified as biotype A with the ability to produce α toxin. The prevalence of Clostridium perfringens was found in almost all types of meat products tested. Beef samples 20/40 (50%) were found the most contaminated with a pathogen, followed by minced lamb 16/40 (40%), ground beef 11/40 (27.5%), lamb 9/40 (22.5%), beef intestines 7/40 (17.5%) and lamb intestines 4/40 (10%). Conclusions. The outcomes of our study demonstrated the high contamination rate of Clostridium perfringens in local meat products. This study is also the first survey on Clostridium perfringens prevalence in meats in Kazakhstan. The findings in this report will enhance knowledge of epidemiology and help develop coordinated actions to prevent and control possible food poisoning outbreaks. Full article

Consumers’ constant search for high-quality and safe products, with the least possible preservatives and additives, as well as extended shelf life, has led industries to research and develop alternative forms of food preservation and packaging. The purpose of this research was the study of the effect of natural antimicrobials and, in particular, the essential oils of ginger (Zingiber Officinale Roscoe) and rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis L.) on strengthening whey protein films’ properties. Whey protein isolate (WPI) films, alone and with incorporated essential oils (WPI + EO) at different concentrations were prepared and then examined for their possible effect on delaying the deterioration of minced lamb meat. Microbiological and physicochemical measurements were carried out to examine the meat’s shelf life. Results showed that films with 1% EO significantly improved the microbiological quality of meat. On day 11, total viable counts, Pseudomonas spp., Br. thermosphacta, lactic acid bacteria, Enterobacteriaceae, and yeasts remained low for films with 1% concentration of essential oil compared with 0.5%. Regarding, physicochemical properties the same pattern was observed for pH while oxidation degree was significantly reduced. Finally, color attributes measurements recorded fluctuations between samples, but overall, no considerable discoloration was observed. Full article

Functionalization of polysaccharide-based packaging incorporating inorganic nanoparticles for food preservation is an active research area. This review summarizes the use of polysaccharide-based materials functionalized with inorganic nanoparticles (TiO₂, ZnO, Ag, SiO₂, Al₂O₃, Fe₂O₃, Zr, MgO, halloysite, and montmorillonite) to develop hybrid packaging for fruit, vegetables, meat (lamb, minced, pork, and poultry), mushrooms, cheese, eggs, and Ginkgo biloba seeds preservation. Their effects on quality parameters and shelf life are also discussed. In general, treated fruit, vegetables, mushrooms, and G. biloba seeds markedly increased their shelf life without significant changes in their sensory attributes, associated with a slowdown effect in the ripening process (respiration rate) due to the excellent gas exchange and barrier properties that effectively prevented dehydration, weight loss, enzymatic browning, microbial infections by spoilage and foodborne pathogenic bacteria, and mildew apparition in comparison with uncoated or polysaccharide-coated samples. Similarly, hybrid packaging showed protective effects to preserve meat products, cheese, and eggs by preventing microbial infections and lipid peroxidation, extending the food product’s shelf life without changes in their sensory attributes. According to the evidence, polysaccharide-hybrid packaging can preserve the quality parameters of different food products. However, further studies are needed to guarantee the safe implementation of these organic–inorganic packaging materials in the food industry. Full article

A lateral flow immunoassay for sensitive detection of skeletal troponin I (TnI) as a specific, thermostable marker of muscle tissue was developed. Due to the antibodies’ choice, the assay specifically detects mammalian TnI (in beef, pork, lamb, and horse) but does not detect bird TnI (in chicken or turkey), thus enabling differentiation of these types of raw meat materials. The assay is based on a sandwich format of the analysis using gold nanoparticles as labels. The time of the assay is 15 min, and the TnI detection limit is 25 ng/mL. A buffer solution is proposed for efficient extraction of TnI from muscle tissues and from finished meat products that have undergone technological processing (smoking–cooking–smoking, cooking and smoking). The possibility of detecting beef addition in minced chicken down to 1% was demonstrated. Full article