Meat Quality Control Research Articles

Development of a Prototype for the Quality Control of Bovine Meat Determined by its Organoleptic Characteristics, based on an Automatic Inspection System for Artificial Vision

The world beef market is in full growth and with unsatisfied demands and prices up and these depend very much on their quality when arriving at the final consumer, while the national market, our country also has a future potential in the meat industry. In the present investigation is to evaluate the sensory characteristics of color and texture by means of the presence of a bovine meat sample in the system whose final result will be the acceptance or negation of its organoleptic quality. The system is constituted by a transport band in charge of taking the sample to a capsule where both the Lighting System (LS) and the Computer Vision System (CVS) are located, and when leaving there it will be automatically classified by an actuator, guaranteeing less manipulation and estimation of time by human intervention throughout the process while providing greater security to the final consumer about the meat that is entering their home.

Angular absorption of light used for evaluation of structural damage to porcine meat caused by aging, drying and freezing

Meat as a rich source of protein is sought after by people from all over the world. It is also very susceptible to decay because of many internal and external processes affecting it. In this work an easy and quick method of detection of structural damage caused by decay or mishandling the meat is attempted by the method of angular absorption of light. The difference between structural changes due to aging, drying and freezing is explored and the resulting changes in light absorption in meat samples are presented. This work demonstrates that the measurement of optical angular dependency of absorption in relation to the muscle fibers in muscle tissue has the potential of detecting structural damage to the sample for meat quality control purposes.

Indium phosphide all air-gap Fabry-Pérot filters for near-infrared spectroscopic applications

Food quality can be characterized by noninvasive techniques such as spectroscopy in the Near Infrared wavelength range. For example, 930 -1450 nm wavelength range can be used to detect diseases and differentiate between meat samples. Miniaturization of such NIR spectrometers is useful for quick and mobile characterization of food samples. Spectrometers can be miniaturized, without compromising the spectral resolution, using Fabry-Pérot (FP) filters consisting of two highly reflecting mirrors with a central cavity in between. The most commonly used mirrors in the design of FP filters are Distributed Bragg Reflections (DBRs) consisting of alternating high and low refractive index material pairs, due to their high reflectivity compared to metal mirrors. However, DBRs have high reflectivity for a selected range of wavelengths known as the stopband of the DBR. This range is usually much smaller than the sensitivity range of the spectrometer detector. Therefore, a bandpass filter is usually required to restrict wavelengths outside the stopband of the FP DBRs. Such bandpass filters are difficult to design and implement. Alternatively, high index contrast materials must be can be used to broaden the stopband width of the FP DBRs. In this work, Indium phosphide all air-gap filters are proposed in conjunction with InGaAs based detectors. The designed filter has a wide stopband covering the entire InGaAs detector sensitivity range. The filter can be tuned in the 950-1450 nm with single mode operation. The designed filter can hence be used for noninvasive meat quality control.

Effect of genotype, gender and feed restriction on growth, meat quality and the occurrence of white striping and wooden breast in broiler chickens

Due to their importance for the control of meat quality in broiler chickens, the present study aimed at identifying the factors associated with the occurrence of myopathies and characterizing the meat properties when affected by myopathies. To this aim, a total of 768 broiler chickens were reared until slaughter (46 d) to evaluate the effect of genotype, gender, and feeding regime (ad libitum vs. restricted rate, 80% from 13 to 21 d of age) on performance and meat quality. Standard broilers were heavier (3,270 vs. 3,139 g; P < 0.001) and showed lower feed conversion (1.56 vs. 1.61; P < 0.001) than the high-yield broilers. Males showed higher final live weight (3,492 vs. 2,845 g) and lower feed conversion (1.54 vs. 1.63) than females (P < 0.001). Feed restriction decreased final live weight (3,194 vs. 3,142 g; P < 0.01) and feed conversion (1.60 vs. 1.57; P < 0.01) compared to ad libitum feeding. At gross examination, feed restriction tended to increase white-striped breasts (69.5 vs. 79.5%; P < 0.10), whereas females showed less wooden breasts than males (8.0 vs. 16.3%; P < 0.05). White-striped fillets had higher pHu (5.87 vs. 5.83), and lower a* (−0.81 vs. −0.59) and b* color indexes (13.7 vs. 14.5) (P < 0.05), whereas wooden breast fillets exhibited higher cooking losses (25.6 vs. 22.1%) and AK-shear force (4.23 vs. 2.84 kg/g) compared with normal fillets (P < 0.001). At histological examination, 3.1% of pectoralis major were normal, 26.6% mildly degenerated, 45.3% moderately degenerated, and 25.0% severely degenerated. In conclusion, genotype had a moderate effect on growth without modifying myopathy occurrence. In contrast, gender and feed restriction affected performance, meat quality, and breast abnormalities.

Process analytical technologies in food industry - challenges and benefits: A status report and recommendations.

Process analytical technologies in food industry - challenges and benefits: A status report and recommendations.

Non-invasive lactate- and pH-monitoring in porcine meat using Raman spectroscopy and chemometrics

The feasibility of using chemometrics and Raman spectroscopy as a fast and non-invasive method to monitor the early postmortem lactate accumulation and pH decline in pork meat has been investigated. For this application, an on-line monitoring methodology has not yet been established. Based on raw Raman spectra of porcine semimembranosus muscles, a range of spectral pre-processing and multivariate calibration techniques were investigated to develop and test on-line prediction models for the meat quality parameters. The influence of the pre-processing methods on the prediction speed, robustness and accuracy performance of the employed linear and non-linear algorithms was compared. Identification of the most effective chemometric evaluation procedure was performed using least square linear regression together with locally weighted regression and metaheuristic data optimization methods such as the genetic algorithm and the ant colony optimization. The herein presented analysis suggests that the locally weighted regression applied to the standard normal variate (SNV) normalized Raman spectra provides the most accurate and robust models with a cross-validated coefficient of determination (r2cv) of 0.97 for pH and lactate, a cross-validated root mean square error (RMSECV) of 4.5mmol/kg for the lactate prediction and 0.06pH-units for the pH prediction. These results demonstrate the great potential of combining chemometrics and Raman spectroscopy for on-line meat quality control applications.

Potency of Combination of Palm Kernel Meal and Katuk Leaf Powder to Improve the Production Performance of Peranakan Etawa (PE) Goat: Toward a Strategy for Quality Control of Meat Using “CGE” Concept

This research was aimed to study the potency of suplementation of a combination of palm kernel meal and katuk leaf powder (Sauropus androgynus L. Merr) to the production performance in PE goat. The final target of this study is to develop a strategy for quality control of meat using a “clean, green, and ethical” (CGE) concept of technology. This study were used 20 male PE goat at aged of + 1.5 years and weight of 15-20kg. The result showed that the suplementation of BISKAT was induced a higher level of testosterone in male PE goat. In conclusion, testosterone levels of PE goat tends to increase after given a combination of palm kernel meal and katuk leaf powder. Therefore, the technique used in this research might direct us to to develop a strategy for quality control of meat product in livestock using a “clean, green, and ethical” (CGE) concept of technology in the future.

Quantitative phosphoproteomic analysis of porcine muscle within 24 h postmortem.

The manuscript describes the characterization of postmortem (PM) porcine muscle within 24 h postmortem from the perspective of protein phosphorylation using advanced phosphoproteomic techniques. In the study, the authors employed the dimethyl labeling combined with the TiSH phosphopeptide enrichment and LC-MS/MS strategy. This was the first high-throughput quantitative phosphoproteomic study in PM muscle of farm animals. In the work, both the proteome and phosphoproteome were analyzed, and the large number of identified peptides, phosphopeptides and phosphorylation sites can greatly enrich the current farm animal protein database. The proteins involved in glycometabolism, muscle contraction and heat shock proteins (HSPs) showed significantly changed phosphorylation levels during PM meat development. This work indicated that PM muscle proteins underwent significant changes at phosphorylation level but were relatively stable at the total protein level, suggesting that protein phosphorylation may have important roles in meat development through the regulation of proteins involved in metabolism and muscle contraction, thereby affecting glycolysis and rigor mortis development in PM muscle. The work can promote the understanding of PM muscle metabolism and meat quality development, and be helpful for future meat quality control.

Meat quality prediction using Raman spectroscopy and chemometrics

The feasibility of using Raman spectroscopy as a fast and non-invasive method to monitor the quality parameters in pork meat has been investigated. For this application an online prediction methodology has not been established yet. Based on raw Raman spectra of 10 pork semimembranosus muscles a range of data pre-processing and multivariate calibration methodology have been used to develop online predictive models for the meat quality parameters: the lactate and pH. The linear and nonlinear algorithms studied were comparatively analysed for speed, robustness and accuracy. Identifying the best “efficiency” evaluation procedure represented the final milestone of the present study. Thus with a cross-validated r2 value for both pH and lactate of 0.97, a RMSECV of 4.5 mmol/l for the lactate prediction and 0.06 units for the pH prediction, locally weighted regression provided the most accurate and robust model. This prove the feasibility of using Raman spectroscopy for online meat quality control applications.

Molecular Methods for Microbiological Quality Control of Meat and Meat Products: A Review

Achieving food safety is a global health goal and the food-borne diseases take a major check on global health. Therefore, detection of microbial pathogens in food is the solution to the prevention and recognition of problems related to health and safety. Conventional and standard bacterial detection methods such as culture and colony counting methods and immunology-based methods may take up to several hours or even a few days to yield a result. Obviously, this is inadequate, and recently many researchers are focusing towards the progress of rapid diagnostic methods. The advent of molecular techniques has led to the development of a diverse array of assay for quality control of meat and meat products. Rapid analysis using DNA hybridization and amplification techniques offer more sensitivity and specificity to get results than culture based methods as well as dramatic reduction in the time to get results. Many methods have also achieved the high level automation, facilitating their application as routine sample screening assays. This review is intended to provide an overview of the molecular methods for microbiological quality control of meat and meat products.

Determination of Sex Origin of Meat and Meat Products on the DNA Basis: A Review

Sex determination of domestic animal's meat is of potential value in meat authentication and quality control studies. Methods aiming at determining the sex origin of meat may be based either on the analysis of hormone or on the analysis of nucleic acids. At the present time, sex determination of meat and meat products based on hormone analysis employ gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), high-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry/mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS), and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Most of the hormone-based methods proved to be highly specific and sensitive but were not performed on a regular basis for meat sexing due to the technical limitations or the expensive equipments required. On the other hand, the most common methodology to determine the sex of meat is unquestionably traditional polymerase chain reaction (PCR) that involves gel electrophoresis of DNA amplicons. This review is intended to provide an overview of the DNA-based methods for sex determination of meat and meat products.

Control of fresh meat quality through manipulation of muscle fiber characteristics

Variations of fresh meat quality exist because the quality traits are affected by various intrinsic and extrinsic factors. Because the meat quality is basically dependent on muscle fiber characteristics, numerous studies have reported the relationship between quality traits and fiber characteristics. Despite intensive research, the relationship is yet to be fully established, however, the present knowledge suggests several potential ways to manipulate muscle fiber characteristics to improve meat quality. The present paper reviews the definition of fresh meat quality, meat quality traits and variations of meat quality. Also, this review presents recent knowledge underlying the relationship between fresh meat quality traits and muscle fiber characteristics. Finally, the present work proposes several potential factors including breed, genotype, sex, hormone, growth performance, diet, muscle location, exercise and ambient temperature that can be used to manipulate muscle fiber characteristics and subsequently meat quality in animals.

Determination of sex origin of meat from cattle, sheep and goat using PCR based assay

Sex determination of domestic animal's meat is of potential value in meat authentication and quality control studies. The job becomes easier if the same assay could serve the purpose for all three species i.e. cattle, sheep and goat. The objective of this study was to develop a simple and accurate PCR-based sex determination protocol, which can be applicable to cattle, sheep and goat meat. Based on the amelogenin gene located on the X and Y chromosomes, a pair of primers was designed and the system of PCR was optimized. Upon PCR amplification, male tissue showed 2 bands, while female tissue resulted in only one band. The accuracy and specificity of the primers was assessed using genomic DNA extracted from meat samples of known sex. The protocol was subjected to a blind test and showed 100% concordance, proving its accuracy and reliability. The technique also claims its utility in resolving legal cases related to sex origin of these animals.

Determination of pig sex in meat and meat products using multiplex real time-PCR

For specific production lines, European retail companies demand exclusively female pork meat. To control the quality of their suppliers the identification and a quantitative detection of the animal sex origin of the meat is therefore of importance for meat processors. To enable a fast and reliable detection of male pig meat, a real time-PCR-system was designed in the present study. This was based on the genes AMEL-X and AMEL-Y. The real time-PCR assay allowed the detection of male pig meat at a concentration of 1% yielding a detection probability of 100% while the detection probability investigating meat samples containing 0.1% male pig meat was 44.4%. The analytic sensitivity of this system was assessed to be <5pg DNA per PCR reaction. The assessment of the accuracy of the real time-PCR assay to correctly identify sex individuals was investigated with 62 pigs including males (n=29) and females (n=33) belonging to different breeds/lines. With the newly designed test all analysed animals were correctly sexed. No amplification was obtained with cow, goat, sheep, turkey and chicken genomic DNA. The presented assay can be used for sex diagnosis, for the detection of male pig meat and for meat quality control.

Handheld NIRS analysis for routine meat quality control: Database transfer from at-line instruments

Innovative advances in Near Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS) instrumentation have enabled the development of new miniaturized spectrometers that combine NIRS technology with micro-electro-mechanical platforms, thus opening up new horizons for industrial NIRS applications. Many agro-food industries, laboratories and research centres already have large databases/libraries, built up over many years using NIR spectrometers; it is clearly important to preserve these data sets in order to avoid having to research and develop NIRS applications from scratch every time a new instrument appears on the market. Three standardization algorithms—Direct Standardization (DS), Piecewise Direct Standardization (PDS) and Spectral Difference by Wavelengths (SDW)—and varying numbers of standardization samples were evaluated for transferring meat quality databases from a high-performance at-line NIRS monochromator to a handheld based on micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) NIRS spectrometer. The SDW algorithm and the use of 8 standardization samples yielded the best Standard Error of Prediction (SEP) values for the three chemical parameters transferred (0.72% for fat, 0.73% for moisture and 0.66% for protein). The successful transfer of the database to the MEMS-NIRS device enables a new approach for fast, low-cost, on-line/in-situ analysis of meat products.

Application of European standards for health and quality control of game meat on game ranches in South Africa

The health and quality compliance of game carcasses (n = 295) intended for the South African export market and aspiring to comply with the strict hygiene requirements of the European Union were compared with game carcasses (n = 330) available for the local market and currently not subjected to meat safety legislation. Samples were collected in similar seasons and geographical areas in South Africa from 2006 to 2009. Aerobic plate counts (APC) of the heart blood verified that both groups possessed similar ante mortem bacterial status. For health compliance APC, tests for Escherichia coli, Salmonella spp. and Staphylococcus aureus were performed on the carcasses. Surfaces of the local carcasses were swabbed using the European Enviro-biotrace sponge technique at 3 and 72 h post mortem. Unskinned but eviscerated export carcasses in the abattoir were skinned and sampled by incision using a corkborer 72 h post mortem. Temperature and pH readings were recorded at 3 and 72 h post mortem from the longissimus dorsi muscle and the readings at 3 h differed (P = 0.035). Temperatures at 72 h were lower for export than local carcasses (P < 0.001) because of earlier introduction and maintenance of the cold chain. The pH readings also differed between groups at 3 and 72 h (P < 0.001). APC results for the local group exceeded the maximum permissible count (< 10(5)). S. aureus results showed differences (P < 0.001), with readings from the local group being higher. The same tendency was exhibited for E. coli (P = 0.008). Imposition of hygiene guidelines for game ranchers producing meat for the local market is therefore recommended.

On-Site NIR Spectroscopy to Control the Shelf Life of Pork Meat

Control of meat shelf-life includes the time that it remains in the exhibitor of sale (such as the supermarket) until its rejection for the consumer, or withdrawal due to expiry date. Near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) is one of the most promising techniques for large-scale meat quality control. This study investigated the potential of on-site NIRS portable instrumentation-based models to predict three microbiological parameters to establish if pork meat is acceptable or not for consumption (aerobic Mesophilous microorganisms, Enterobacteriaceae, and lactic acid bacteria) and pH to quality control food preservation and shelf-life extension on intact slices of pork meat packaged under two different modified atmospheres. NIR calibrations were developed by using an on-site Phazir instrument (Polychromix, Wilmington, MA, USA) in the range 1,600–2,400 nm. A total of 252 samples of pork meat slices were directly scanned twice in reflectance mode on trays, once before and another one after removing the film cover at 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 12, and 15 days of storage. Results showed that spectra of meat acceptable or not for consumption have marked differences around 1,660 nm. NIRS quantitative prediction models showed r 2 values between 0.19 and 0.65 for the microbiological parameters assayed. The developed NIRS methodology makes possible on-site prediction of microbiological status of pork meat with a standard error of cross-validation around 1 log cfu/g. Results have shown that modified atmosphere packaging has no influence on calibration statistics.

Development of a dielectric spectroscopy technique for the determination of key biochemical markers of meat quality

Dielectric measurements of different standard solutions (nucleotides, nucleosides, lactic acid and myoglobin) were assayed simulating the concentrations of these substances in early postmortem meat. These assays were performed for considering the potential use of dielectric spectra for the quality control of meat. Good correlations among solutions of Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP), Inosine Monophosphate (IMP) and lactic acid with loss factor at punctual frequencies (0.5, 0.915 and 1GHz) were found. The other assayed substances did not present a marked effect over the electromagnetic spectra. Good correlations of dielectric properties with IMP and lactic acid content of real pork meat samples were also found at 0.5GHz. This work is presenting prospective data of dielectric spectra for certain key biochemical markers in order to consider its potential application as a non-destructive control sensor for the prediction of pork meat quality.

Evaluation of the K-value for Quality Control of Chicken Meat

Evaluation of the K-value for Quality Control of Chicken Meat

Incidental Trichinellosis of Strap Muscle Identified After Thyroglossal Duct Cyst Excision

(1) Present a unique case of a thyroglossal duct cyst (TGDC) excised for recurrent infections with Trichinella spiralis in adjacent strap muscle; (2) review the literature regarding the diagnosis and treatment of subclinical trichinellosis of the head and neck. Case report and literature review. Case report and literature review. We present the case of a male immigrant who suffered from recurrent midline neck infections due to aTGDC. The patient underwent an uneventful Sistrunk procedure. Histological examination of the surgical specimen revealed a chronically infected TGDC as well as remnants of skeletal muscle adjacent to the cyst containing nematode larvae, positively identified as Trichinella spiralis. The patient was subsequently evaluated by an infectious disease specialist and required no further treatment for his parasitic infection. The presence of nematode infections in developed countries is rare today given improved hygiene practices and control of meat quality. We present a unique case of incidentally noted Trichinella spiralis infection of the head and neck. To our knowledge, this is the first described case of trichinellosis of strap muscle adjacent to an excised TGDC and furthermore highlights the rarity of Trichinella spiralis infections of the head and neck. Trichinella spiralis may exist subclinically in a variety of human tissues including neck muscles.