Technological Meat Quality Research Articles

The Influence of Garlic Powder in Broiler Feed on Carcass and Breast Meat Quality

In this study the carcass and quality (nutritive, technological and sensory) of broiler breast meat were analysed. Hubbard chickens were used for investigations (n=200). There were two groups of samples: control group (C) chickens fed with standard mixture, and experimental group (E) chickens fed with standard feed mixture supplemented with 2% of garlic powder. The trial lasted 42 days. Experimental group had higher (p<0.05) meat yield in chickens breast, but significant effect of garlic addition on nutritive quality of chicken breast meat were not noted. In the breast meat of the experimental group E significantly (P < 0.05) higher protein content and lower (P < 0.05) fat content, compared to control (C), was found. Cholesterol levels in breast meat of the experimental group E (46.1 mg/100g) was significantly lower (P < 0.05) compared to the control group (60.1 mg/100g). The average technological quality of breast meat of groups regarding to pHk, as the parameter and criteria for determining the quality of breast meat corresponds to PSE. The average technological quality of breast meat of control and experimental group according to colouru (L*), as the parameter and criteria for determining the quality of breast meat, corresponds to “normal quality”. According to results of sensory analyzes, roasted breast meat of the experimental group had significantly (P < 0.01) preferable juiciness and tenderness.

Effect of breeding mode, type of muscle and slaughter age on technological meat quality of local poultry population of Gallus gallus species of Benin

Indigenous chickens in Benin represent various populations including Holli, Sahoue, Fulani, North and South ecotypes. The current study aims to assess the technological quality of their meat according to genetic type, breeding system and age. Thus, 52 chickens of each ecotype were divided in two lots of 26 birds bred respectively under traditional system and improved system. For each breeding system, 26 cockerels of each ecotype were slaughtered at 20, 24 and 28 weeks old. It appears that the meat of South chickens had the highest shear force (47.76 N), redness (8.08) and chroma (P<0.01). The lowest pH24 was recorded in North (5.66) and Fulani (5.71) ecotypes (P<0.05). The highest luminance was found in meat of North chickens (59.74). Chickens Holli had the lowest yellowness and the highest hue value (3.72). The cooking loss of thigh of Sahoue was higher than in the other genotypes (P<0.05). The chickens bred under traditional system had the highest shear force and luminance (P <0.001), whereas birds of improved system had the highest pH24, yellowness and chroma (P<0.05). The shear force, redness, yellowness, hue, chroma and pH of thigh were higher than those of the breast (P<0.001). The breast was clearer than the thigh-drumstick (58.98 vs 49.09; P<0.001). The luminance, redness, yellowness, chroma and cooking loss decreased with age (P <0.05) while shear force and pH increased (P<0.001). Overall, South chickens provided the toughest and darkest meat, while traditional free range system was more favorable for firm and white chicken meat production.

Majorcan Black Pig as a traditional pork production system: Improvements in slaughterhouse procedures and elaboration of pork carpaccio as an alternative product

The Majorcan Black Pig (MBP) was used as a model of differentiated traditional system within the Q-PorkChains project. The MBP farms were taken as an example of traditional system using a local breed which claims for high meat quality products. Welfare Quality® protocol was applied at the slaughterhouse and improvement strategies related to ante-mortem conditions and technological meat quality were defined. Pork carpaccio from MBP was elaborated to evaluate its sensory properties as an alternative to the existing MBP products. MBP tenderloins were better suited than those from pigs from a commercial breed to elaborate this product.

The effect of gender and breed on some properties of pig meat

This study was conducted to investigate differences in characteristics of muscles from male and female fatteners from Mangalitsa and Swedish Landrace pig breed. The research was carried out on three muscles: m. longissimus thoracis et lumborum, m. gluteus medius and m. triceps brachii. Compared to the Swedish Landrace, it was found out that the meat of the Mangalitsa had considerably higher intramuscular fat content (p&lt;0.05). The highest intramuscular fat content was determined in male fatteners of Mangalitsa in m. gluteus medius (6.81%) and the lowest in female fatteners of Landrace pig breed in the longissimus muscle (1.12%). As for technological quality of meat, after cooking, meat from Mangalitsa pig had greater cooking weight loss compared to Landrace and also lower shear force (SF) values for longissimus, but higher SF values for gluteus muscle. Gender had no statistically significant effect on technological meat quality. It can be concluded, on the base of the results, that the Mangalitsa pig, had favourable meat quality traits, which are very desired for production of traditional meat products of high quality.

SNPs detection in DHPS-WDR83 overlapping genes mapping on porcine chromosome 2 in a QTL region for meat pH

BackgroundThe pH is an important parameter influencing technological quality of pig meat, a trait affected by environmental and genetic factors. Several quantitative trait loci associated to meat pH are described on PigQTL database but only two genes influencing this parameter have been so far detected: Ryanodine receptor 1 and Protein kinase, AMP-activated, gamma 3 non-catalytic subunit. To search for genes influencing meat pH we analyzed genomic regions with quantitative effect on this trait in order to detect SNPs to use for an association study.ResultsThe expressed sequences mapping on porcine chromosomes 1, 2, 3 in regions associated to pork pH were searched in silico to find SNPs. 356 out of 617 detected SNPs were used to genotype Italian Large White pigs and to perform an association analysis with meat pH values recorded in semimembranosus muscle at about 1 hour (pH1) and 24 hours (pHu) post mortem.The results of the analysis showed that 5 markers mapping on chromosomes 1 or 3 were associated with pH1 and 10 markers mapping on chromosomes 1 or 2 were associated with pHu. After False Discovery Rate correction only one SNP mapping on chromosome 2 was confirmed to be associated to pHu. This polymorphism was located in the 3’UTR of two partly overlapping genes, Deoxyhypusine synthase (DHPS) and WD repeat domain 83 (WDR83). The overlapping of the 3’UTRs allows the co-regulation of mRNAs stability by a cis-natural antisense transcript method of regulation. DHPS catalyzes the first step in hypusine formation, a unique amino acid formed by the posttranslational modification of the protein eukaryotic translation initiation factor 5A in a specific lysine residue. WDR83 has an important role in the modulation of a cascade of genes involved in cellular hypoxia defense by intensifying the glycolytic pathway and, theoretically, the meat pH value.ConclusionsThe involvement of the SNP detected in the DHPS/WDR83 genes on meat pH phenotypic variability and their functional role are suggestive of molecular and biological processes related to glycolysis increase during post-mortem phase. This finding, after validation, can be applied to identify new biomarkers to be used to improve pig meat quality.

Influence of gender and slaughter weight on meat quality traits of heavy pigs

The investigation was carried out on 99 PIC pig carcasses (49 gilts and 50 barrows) divided into six groups according to their slaughter weight (120, 130, 140, 150, 160 and ≥170 kg), with the aim to investigate the influence of gender and slaughter weight on meat quality traits. At the slaughter line and in laboratory following meat quality traits were measured: initial and ultimate pH in MS and LD muscle, drip loss, EZ drip, colour parameters, cooking loss and instrumental tenderness. Out of all investigated meat quality traits, gender influenced only cooking loss, while differences between slaughter weight groups were found for almost all meat quality traits measured. However, increasing slaughter weight to ≥170.00 kg had no major benefit on technological meat quality traits.

Bayesian meta-analysis of the effect of fasting, transport and lairage times on four attributes of pork meat quality

Technological meat quality is a significant economic factor in pork production, and numerous publications have shown that it is strongly influenced both by genetic status and by rearing and slaughter conditions. The quality of meat is often described by meat pH at different times postmortem, as well as by color and drip loss. A meta-analysis based on a database built from 27 studies corresponding to a total of 6526 animals classified was carried out. The purpose of this meta-analysis was to study the effect of fasting, lairage and transport durations on four main attributes of the technological pork meat quality. A Bayesian hierarchical meta-regression approach was adopted.The results of our meta-analysis showed that fasting time had a significant effect on pH measured 24h post-mortem (pHu) and drip loss (DL) measured in longissimus muscle. While, lairage affected only the pHu in semimembranosus muscle. Interestingly, we found that DL was the lone attribute that was affected by transport time and its interaction with fasting time.

Regulatory polymorphisms in the bovine Ankyrin 1 gene promoter are associated with tenderness and intramuscular fat content

BackgroundRecent QTL and gene expression studies have highlighted ankyrins as positional and functional candidate genes for meat quality. Our objective was to characterise the promoter region of the bovine ankyrin 1 gene and to test polymorphisms for association with sensory and technological meat quality measures.ResultsSeven novel promoter SNPs were identified in a 1.11 kb region of the ankyrin 1 promoter in Angus, Charolais and Limousin bulls (n = 15 per breed) as well as 141 crossbred beef animals for which meat quality data was available. Eighteen haplotypes were inferred with significant breed variation in haplotype frequencies. The five most frequent SNPs and the four most frequent haplotypes were subsequently tested for association with sensory and technological measures of meat quality in the crossbred population. SNP1, SNP3 and SNP4 (which were subsequently designated regulatory SNPs) and SNP5 were associated with traits that contribute to sensorial and technological measurements of tenderness and texture; Haplotype 1 and haplotype 4 were oppositely correlated with traits contributing to tenderness (P < 0.05). While no single SNP was associated with intramuscular fat (IMF), a clear association with increased IMF and juiciness was observed for haplotype 2.ConclusionThe conclusion from this study is that alleles defining haplotypes 2 and 4 could usefully contribute to marker SNP panels used to select individuals with improved IMF/juiciness or tenderness in a genome-assisted selection framework.

Longissimus muscle transcriptome profiles related to carcass and meat quality traits in fresh meat Piétrain carcasses1

High quality pork is consumed as fresh meat, whereas other carcasses are used in the processing industry. Meat quality is determined measuring technical muscle variables. The objective of this research was to investigate the molecular regulatory mechanisms underlying meat quality differences of pork originating from genetically different Piétrain boars. Piétrain boars were approved for high meat quality using a DNA marker panel. Other Piétrain boars were indicated as average. Both groups produced litters in similar Piétrain sows. The LM were sampled from 9 carcasses produced by approved boars and 8 carcasses of average boars. Total RNA was isolated, and an equal portion of each sample was pooled to make a reference sample representing the mean of all samples. Each sample was hybridized on microarrays against the reference in duplicate using a dye swaps design. After normalization and subtraction of 2 times the background, only genes expressed in at least 5 carcasses were analyzed. For all analyses the mean of the M-values relative to the reference (i.e., fold change), were used. Sixteen genes showed significant linear or quadratic associations between gene expression and meat color (Minolta a* value, Minolta L* value, reflection, pH 24 h) after Bonferroni correction. All these genes had expression levels similar to the reference in all carcasses. Studying association between gene expression levels and meat quality using only genes with expression statistically differing from the reference in at least 5 carcasses revealed 29 more genes associating with the technological meat quality variables, again with meat color as a main trait. These associations were not significant after Bonferroni correction and explained less of the phenotypic variation in the traits. Bioinformatics analyses with The Database for Annotation, Visualization and Integrated Discovery (DAVID) using the list of genes with more than 2-fold changed expression level revealed that these genes were mainly found in muscle-specific processes, protein complexes, and oxygen transport, and located to muscle-specific cellular localizations. Pathway analysis using the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) database revealed pathways related to protein metabolism, cellular proliferation, signaling, and adipose development differing between the 2 groups of carcasses. Approved meat carcasses showed less variation in gene expression. The results highlight biological molecular mechanisms underlying the differences between the high meat quality approved and average boars.

Association of polymorphisms in candidate genes with colour, water-holding capacity, and composition traits in bovine M. longissimus and M. semimembranosus

The objective of this study was to determine the association of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) in selected candidate genes with sensory and technological meat quality traits in commercial cattle. SNP in seven candidate genes were genotyped in 130 crossbred Bos taurus cattle using PCR-RFLP. Reported associations between calpastatin (CAST) and Warner-Bratzler shear force and carboxypeptidase E (CPE) and intra-muscular fat were not confirmed. However, SNP in CAST, amp-activated protein kinase, gamma-3 subunit (PRKAG3), growth hormone receptor (GHR) and stearoyl coA desaturase (SCD) genes were significantly associated with colour traits (p<0.05). The PRKAG3 SNP was additionally associated with cook loss in M. longissimus thoracis et lumborum (p<0.05) and tended towards association in M. semimembranosus (p<0.1). An association with pH was identified for the SCD SNP (p<0.001). The GHR polymorphism was influential on moisture and intra-muscular fat in M. semimembranosus and protein content in both muscles (p<0.05). Only CPE was associated with sensory traits (flavour in M. longissimus, p<0.01).

MOLECULAR AND BIOLOGICAL FACTORS AFFECTING SKELETAL MUSCLE CELLS AFTER SLAUGHTERING AND THEIR IMPACT ON MEAT QUALITY: A MINI REVIEW

ABSTRACT The postmortem factors like rate of glycolysis and muscle shortening have a major role on meat characteristics and these have been efficiently manipulated by methods like chilling regime, electrical stimulation and different hanging. These methods have been optimized with time leaving a little scope for further improvement. During the harvesting process of meat there is a generalized cell death often referred to as necrosis or apoptosis. This process of cell death has been well studied with respect to various physiological functions in vivo but its role in postmortem meat quality has received little attention. It is mainly regulated by caspases and also probably by calpains, cathepsins, proteasomes, lysosomal enzymes and other molecules, antioxidants and stress proteins. The term apoptosis appears to be more appropriate as evident by involvement of the enzyme systems and cell shrinkage. Further, examination of postmortem events effecting meat quality and correlate them to understand the cell death process may reveal the possible involvement of both apoptosis and necrosis processes, one preceding the other. This article is an attempt to review the apoptotic process of various cell lines and possible implication for muscle cells after slaughter and meat quality control.PRACTICAL APPLICATIONSUnderstanding the intricate biochemical mechanisms governing cell death processes after slaughter may help us provide better solutions for preslaughter animal handling and postslaughter interventions to manage meat toughness. Investigations on these tracks would distinguish muscle cell death processes after slaughter from apoptosis or necrosis, and consequently may lead to enhanced technological meat quality as available literature suggests that a number of molecules such as caspase family are likely to be involved in cell death process after slaughter and also in meat tenderization.

Meta-analysis of the effect of the halothane gene on 6 variables of pig meat quality and on carcass leanness1

Technological meat quality is a significant economic factor in pork production, and numerous publications have shown that it is strongly influenced both by genetic status and by rearing and slaughter conditions. The quality of meat is often described by meat pH at different times postmortem, as well as by color and drip loss, whereas carcass quality is often characterized by lean percentage. A meta-analysis of findings relating to 3,530 pigs reported in 23 publications was carried out to assess the effects of the halothane gene, sex, breed, and slaughter weight of animals on 7 selected variables: pH at 45 min postmortem, ultimate pH, reflectance (L*-value), redness (a*-value), yellowness (b*-value), drip loss, and lean percentage. Two statistical methods were used in the meta-analysis: the method of effect size and the better known random effects model. The method of effect size was associated with Markov chain Monte Carlo techniques for implementing Bayesian hierarchical models to avoid the problems of limited data and publication bias. The results of our meta-analysis showed that the halothane genotype had a significant effect on all analyzed pork quality variables. Between-study variance was evaluated with the Cochran (1954) Q-test of heterogeneity. Meta-regression was used to explain this variance, with covariates such as breed, sex, slaughter weight, and fasting duration being integrated into different regression models. The halothane gene effect was associated with the breed effect only for the following variables: L*-value, b*-value, and drip loss. Slaughter weight contributed significantly only to the explanation of differences in ultimate pH between homozygous genotypes. In response to inconsistencies reported in the literature regarding the difference between the genotypes NN and Nn, results of the meta-analysis showed that the difference between these 2 genotypes was significant for all the analyzed variables except the a*-value.

MOLECULAR AND BIOLOGICAL FACTORS AFFECTING SKELETAL MUSCLE CELLS AFTER SLAUGHTERING AND THEIR IMPACT ON MEAT QUALITY: A MINI‐REVIEW

ABSTRACT The postmortem factors like rate of glycolysis and muscle shortening have a major role on meat characteristics and these have been efficiently manipulated by methods like chilling regime, electrical stimulation and different hanging. These methods have been optimized with time leaving a little scope for further improvement. During the harvesting process of meat there is a generalized cell death often referred to as necrosis or apoptosis. This process of cell death has been well studied with respect to various physiological functions in vivo but its role in postmortem meat quality has received little attention. It is mainly regulated by caspases and also probably by calpains, cathepsins, proteasomes, lysosomal enzymes and other molecules, antioxidants and stress proteins. The term apoptosis appears to be more appropriate as evident by involvement of the enzyme systems and cell shrinkage. Further, examination of postmortem events effecting meat quality and correlating them to understand the cell death process may reveal the possible involvement of both apoptosis and necrosis processes, one preceding the other. This manuscript is an attempt to review the apoptotic process of various cell lines and possible implication for muscle cells after slaughter and meat quality control.PRACTICAL APPLICATIONSUnderstanding the intricate biochemical mechanisms governing cell death processes after slaughter may help us provide better solutions for pre‐slaughter animal handling and postslaughter interventions to manage meat toughness. Investigations on these tracks would distinguish muscle cell death processes after slaughter from apoptosis or necrosis, and consequently may lead to enhanced technological meat quality as available literature suggests that a number of molecules such as caspase family are likely to be involved in cell death process after slaughter and also in meat tenderization.

Evaluation of Technological Quality of Meat Produced from Nsukka Local Abattior

The technological quality of raw meat from Nsukka local abattoir was evaluated by analyzing the proximate composition, water holding capacity, pH, Napole yield and sensory colour and texture of longissimus dorsi [LD] and psoas major [PM] of beef and pork. Results show that moisture [71.36 – 72.76%], protein [21.37 – 22.75%], fat[3.81 – 4.36%] and ash [0.80 – 1.30%] contents were within the range known for fresh raw beef and pork. Due to species differences and effect of scalding, pork had significantly lower ultimate pH [5.35 – 5.54] compared to beef [5.83 –5.91]; with 70% of the pork muscles being in the PSE range contrasted with 38% of those of beef. Also due to muscledifferences LD had lower ultimate pH compared to PM, although the differences were not found to be significant [p

Evaluation of Technological Quality of Meat Produced from Nsukka Local Abattior

The technological quality of raw meat from Nsukka local abattoir was evaluated by analyzing the proximate composition, water holding capacity, pH, Napole yield and sensory colour and texture of longissimus dorsi [LD] and psoas major [PM] of beef and pork. Results show that moisture [71.36 – 72.76%], protein [21.37 – 22.75%], fat [3.81 – 4.36%] and ash [0.80 – 1.30%] contents were within the range known for fresh raw beef and pork. Due to species differences and effect of scalding, pork had significantly lower ultimate pH [5.35 – 5.54] compared to beef [5.83 – 5.91]; with 70% of the pork muscles being in the PSE range contrasted with 38% of those of beef. Also due to muscle differences LD had lower ultimate pH compared to PM, although the differences were not found to be significant [p had higher cooking loss. Napole yield was higher for beef and LD compared respectively to pork and PM. Hardness data showed that pork and PM were harder than beef and LD respectively but the toughness data showed LD to be tougher than PM. Sensory texture [finger feel] data correlated with hardness score [r= -0.73] showing that hardness instead of toughness influenced texture preference. Hardness and toughness as well as sensory texture had high coefficient of variation.

Meta-analysis of the halothane gene effect on parameters of pig meat quality

Technological meat quality has a significant economic impact and many publications have shown that pig meat quality is strongly influenced by the effect of genetic type (especially Hal and RN genes) and by rearing and slaughter conditions (Sellier and Monin, 1994). The quality of meat is generally assessed by measuring meat pH at different times post mortem, colour or drip loss. Our study consists on a meta-analysis based on 11 publications in order to assess the possibility of predicting the effects of halothane gene, sex, breed and slaughter weight of animals on three selected parameters: pH at 45 minutes post mortem (pH45), ultimate pH (pHu) and reflectance (L*-value).

Nutrient composition and technological quality of meat from alpacas reared in Peru

The aim of this study was to increase the knowledge on alpaca meat quality characteristics. Twenty Huacaya breed alpacas, reared under a traditional unspecialized production system at the Andean region of Peru, were slaughtered at ages between 18 and 24 months. Analyses were carried out on Longissimus thoracis and lumborum muscle ( LTLM), unless otherwise specified. These included composition parameters: moisture, fat, protein, ash, minerals, amino acids, fatty acid profile (of both LTLM and perirenal fat), retinol and tocopherol concentrations and myoglobin and collagen contents. Other meat quality parameters were evaluated: pH, colour, water holding capacity and Warner–Bratzler shear-force. Alpaca LTLM was characterized by a low intramuscular fat content and mineral and amino acid compositions, polyunsaturated to saturated fatty acids ratio and conjugated linoleic acid content comparable to those found for beef and sheep meat. However, specifically, alpaca meat showed a relatively high n−6 to n−3 (3.7) ratio and low vitamin E concentration. Values of alpaca meat technological quality parameters were in the ranges reported for more conventional red meats, the exception being a lower b ∗ value.

Quality indicators: Carcass side and meat quality of pigs of different genotypes

In the paper, lean meat and quality of meat from pigs of 5 different genotypes were investigated: pure Landrace breed (L), genotype A; two hybrid combinations (Large Yorkshire x Landrace) x Duroc (LY x L) x D, genotype B; (Large Yorkshire x Landrace) x Pietrain (LY x L) x P, genotype C; and tow recurrent mating combinations: (Large Yorkshire x Landrace) x Large Yorkshire (F1x LY, genotype D) and (Large Yorkshire x Landrace) x Landrace (F1 x L, genotype E). Relevant indicators of lean meat were analyzed early post mortem and by method of partial dissection on cooled left carcass sides according to recommendation of EU. By analysis of obtained results it was established that the best indicator of lean meat of pig carcass sides mass of muscle tissue in four main parts. This conclusion derives from the fact that fatteners (genotype C) which had the greatest mass of muscle tissue in four main parts (15,33kg) also had the highest lean meat share in leg, shoulder, back-loin part (BLP) and belly-rib part (BRP) (69,67%, 57,71%, 54,42% and 44,99%) and highest share of muscle tissue in carcass sides when any of the mentioned investigation methods was applied (51,23 and 60,73%) compared to fatteners of other investigated genotypes. The quality of meat was investigated by determination of its technological quality and chemical composition of the MLD. Technological quality and chemical composition of MLD meat exhibited significant (*p&lt;0,05) differences in WBC and pigment content between genotypes B and C, as well as B and E. Average values for content of ashes and share of pigments corresponds with average values characterizing muscles of normal properties. By analysis of obtained results we can conclude that fatteners of genotype E had the highest meat yield in carcass sides, but of slightly lower quality, which indicates the need for further work on improvement of meat quality. .

Evaluation of three pig crossbreed types with respect to strategies to improve the meat quality: MHS genotype rather than crossbreed type influences drip loss

Abstract. While focussing on drip loss, the aim of this investigation was to evaluate routine parameters of technological meat quality, conductivity, pH for prediction of drip loss and means to discriminate superior carcasses suitable for premium meat programs at slaughter. Thus, 534 carcasses of three commercially available crossbred pigs were examined and effects of crossbreed type and stress susceptibility type (MHS genotype NN or NP) on carcass traits and meat quality characteristics were evaluated. The animals were produced and slaughtered under commercial conditions. Finally we simulated a meat quality program based on electrical conductivity measurements that aimed at exclusion of inferior carcasses in terms of drip loss. NN carcasses yielded 2 % less drip loss compared to NP carcasses. Comparing the crossbreds, breed S pigs appeared most favourable because of lowest drip. Most probably that is due to the 25 % Duroc proportion of that crossbred compared to 0 % Duroc in the competitive crossbreds. Of all quality indicators obtained, conductivity measured 24 h p.m. (EC24) was closest related to drip loss. Above all breeds, a remarkable decrease of drip can be achieved by application of EC24 measurements and corresponding sorting of the carcasses. Therefore, to establish a meat quality program, careful consideration of crossbred, MHS genotype and discrimination of superior carcasses at slaughter based on EC24 measurements is recommended.

Muscle Growth and Meat Quality

Although poultry products are diverse, the general trend is for portioned and further-processed products to increase their market share. In this context, technological quality of poultry meat is an important aspect. It is largely determined by the acidification process of the meat postmortem. Defects in meat acidification have been described in poultry, and the purpose of this report was to evaluate whether they are linked to growth rate or stress susceptibility and whether they are under genetic control.