Globular and fibrous proteins are compared with regard to structural behaviour on heating, where the former expands and the latter contracts. The meat protein composition and structure is briefly ...described. The behaviour of the different meat proteins on heating is discussed. Most of the sarcoplasmic proteins aggregate between 40 and 60 °C, but for some of them the coagulation can extend up to 90
°C. For myofibrillar proteins in solution unfolding starts at 30–32
°C, followed by protein–protein association at 36–40
°C and subsequent gelation at 45–50
°C (conc.
>
0.5% by weight). At temperatures between 53 and 63
°C the collagen denaturation occurs, followed by collagen fibre shrinkage. If the collagen fibres are not stabilised by heat-resistant intermolecular bonds, it dissolves and forms gelatine on further heating. The structural changes on cooking in whole meat and comminuted meat products, and the alterations in water-holding and texture of the meat product that it leads to, are then discussed.
Pulsed electric field (PEF) is a novel non-thermal technology that has recently attracted the attention of meat scientists and technologists due to its ability to modify membrane structure and ...enhance mass transfer. Several studies have confirmed the potential of pulsed electric field for improving meat tenderness in both pre-rigor and post-rigor muscles during aging. However, there is a high degree of variability between studies and the underlying mechanisms are not clearly understood. While some studies have suggested physical disruption as the main cause of PEF induced tenderness, enzymatic nature of the tenderization seems to be the most plausible mechanism. Several studies have suggested the potential of PEF to mediate the tenderization process due to its membrane altering properties causing early release of calcium ions and early activation of the calpain proteases. However, experimental research is yet to confirm this postulation. Recent studies have also reported increased post-mortem proteolysis in PEF treated muscles during aging. PEF has also been reported to accelerate curing, enhance drying and reduce the numbers of both pathogens and spoilage organisms in meat, although that demands intense processing conditions. While tenderization, meat safety and accelerated curing appears to be the areas where PEF could provide attractive options in meat processing, further research is required before the application of PEF becomes a commercial reality in the meat industry. It needs to deal with carcasses which vary biochemically and in composition (muscle, fat, and bones). This review critically evaluates the published reports on the topic with the aim of reaching a clear understanding of the possible applications of PEF in the meat sector in addition to providing some insight on critical issues that need to be addressed for the technology to be a practical option for the meat industry.
Increasing consumer knowledge of the link between diet and health has raised the awareness and demand for functional food ingredients. Meat and its derivatives may be considered functional foods to ...the extent that they contain numerous compounds thought to be functional. This review will attempt to outline the excellent nutritional and dietetic properties of rabbit meat and offer an overview of the studies performed on the strategies adopted to improve the functional value of rabbit meat. Dietary manipulation has been seen to be very effective in increasing the levels of essential FA, EPA, DHA, CLA, branched chain FA, vitamin E, and selenium in rabbit meat. Dietary fortification with vitamin E or natural products such as oregano essential oil, chia seed oil, and Spirulina platensis microalga seem promising in improving the oxidative stability of rabbit meat while also adding functional ingredients.
The aim of this study was to identify the potential indicators of lamb meat quality by TMT and PRM-based proteomics combined with bioinformatic analysis. Lamb muscles were divided into three ...different meat quality groups (high, middle and low) according to tenderness (shear force, MFI value), colour (a* value, R630/580), and water-holding capacity (cooking loss, drip loss) at 24 h postmortem. The results showed that the abundance of phosphoglycerate kinase 1 (PGK1), β-enolase (ENO3), myosin-binding protein C (MYBPC1) and myosin regulatory light chain 2 (MYLPF) was significantly different in the three groups and could be used as potential indicators to characterize meat quality. Moreover, the postmortem processes of glycolysis, oxidative phosphorylation, and muscle contraction remarkably changed in different groups, and were the key biological pathways influencing meat quality. Overall, this study depicted the proteomic landscape of meat that furthers our understanding of the molecular mechanism of meat quality and provides a reference for developing non-destructive detection technology for meat quality.
•2176 proteins were quantified in Longissimus thoracis muscles of lamb.•ENO3, PGK1, MYBPC1 and MYLPF were symbol indicators of meat quality.•Dysregulation of glycolysis, oxidative phosphorylation and muscle contraction were comfirmed the dominant biological pathways in regulating meat quality.
High hydrostatic pressure (HHP) treatment can influence meat protein conformation and induce protein denaturation, aggregation, or gelation. The means whereby HHP treatment exerts effects on meat ...protein structure change are due to the rupture of noncovalent interactions within protein molecules, and to the subsequent re-formation of intra- and inter-molecular bonds within or among protein molecules. Depending upon the meat protein system, the pressure, the temperature, and the duration of the pressure treatment, meat can be either tenderized or toughened. Muscle texture variation induced by heat treatment is due to breakage of hydrogen bonds, whereas changes from high pressure treatment are due to the rupture of hydrophobic and electrostatic interactions. Pressure treatment has little effect on the toughness of connective tissue. Juiciness, springiness, and chewiness are increased upon HHP treatment. Prerigor HHP treatment tenderizes meat, whereas tenderizing effects of postrigor HHP treatment are only measureable if pressure and heat treatment are combined. The limitations and future applications of high pressure technology are also discussed.
The technological, sensory, and nutritional characteristics of meat products are directly related to their animal fat content. Adding animal fat to meat products significantly influences their ...sensory properties, such as color, taste, and aroma. In addition, the physicochemical properties of fat decisively contribute to the texture of meat products, playing a fundamental role in improving the properties of viscosity, creaminess, chewiness, cohesiveness, and hardness. However, meat products' high animal fat content makes them detrimental to a healthy diet. Therefore, reducing the fat content of meat products is an urgent need, but it is a challenge for researchers and the meat industry. The fat reduction in meat products without compromising the product's quality and with minor impacts on the production costs is not a simple task. Thus, strategies to reduce the fat content of meat products should be studied with caution. During the last decades, several fat replacers were tested, but among all of them, the use of flours and fibers, hydrocolloids, mushrooms, and some animal proteins (such as whey and collagen) presented promising results. Additionally, multiple strategies to gel oils of vegetable origin are also a current topic of study, and these have certain advantages such as their appearance (attempts to imitate animal fat), while also improving the nutritional profile of the lipid fraction of the products meat. However, each of these fat substitutes has both advantages and limitations in their use, which will be discussed in subsequent sections. Therefore, due to the growing interest in this issue, this review focuses on the main substitutes for animal fat used in the production of meat products, offering detailed and updated information on the latest discoveries and advances in this area.
This comprehensive review describes the effects of freezing and thawing on the physical quality parameters of meat. The formation of ice crystals during freezing damages the ultrastructure and ...concentrates the solutes in the meat which, in turn, leads to alterations in the biochemical reactions that occur at the cellular level and influence the physical quality parameters of the meat. The quality parameters that were evaluated are moisture loss, protein denaturation, lipid and protein oxidation, colour, pH, shear force and microbial spoilage. Additionally mechanisms employed to mitigate the effects of freezing and thawing were also reviewed. These include the use of novel methods of freezing and thawing, ante and post mortem antifreeze protein inclusion and vitamin E supplementation, brine injection and modified atmospheric packaging.
► Review of changes in physical meat quality parameters due to freezing and thawing. ► Physical quality parameters evaluated are moisture loss, colour, pH and shear force. ► Other quality parameters are protein denaturation and lipid and protein oxidation. ► Potential mitigating mechanisms are reviewed to improve meat quality. ► Future research is required to improve mitigation mechanisms.
•Meat alternatives are associated with “tofu,” “vegan and vegetarian,” as well as “disgust.”•Meat alternatives are similarly perceived to their processed meat counterparts.•Eating meat alternatives ...is perceived to be more appropriate in informal situations.•Meat alternatives similar to processed meat have the best chance to replace meat.
The consumption of meat contributes significantly to undesirable effects on the environment. In order to reduce the impact of animal husbandry, one approach is to decrease meat consumption by substituting plant-based meat alternatives. Because the consumption of such meat alternatives is currently rather low, the aim of this research was to identify the barriers that keep people from consuming meat alternatives and increase the probability of future consumption. This was accomplished by exploring free associations people have towards meat and meat alternatives, comparing selected meat products with their respective meat alternatives using the semantic differential, and studying the perceived appropriateness of eating meat alternatives in different consumption situations. To achieve these objectives, we carried out an online survey with participants from Germany (N = 1039). Our results suggest that while meat is being associated with positive terms, meat alternatives were viewed more negatively. The previous findings that meat alternatives should be similar to meat with regard to taste, texture, and ease of preparation were confirmed. Results from the direct comparison of meat with corresponding meat alternatives indicate that meat alternatives are similarly perceived to their processed meat counterparts. Regarding different consumption situations, our results show that eating meat alternatives is perceived to be more appropriate in situations where one eats alone or with family and friends. In conclusion, our findings demonstrate that meat alternatives have the best chance of successfully replacing meat when they closely resemble highly processed meat products in taste and texture and are offered at competitive prices. The recommendation for producers of meat alternatives is thus to focus on replicating processed meat products instead of trying to imitate meat cuts such as steak or escalope.
Over the past three decades, near infrared reflectance (NIR) spectroscopy has been proved to be one of the most efficient and advanced tools for the estimation of quality attributes in meat and meat ...products. This review focuses on the use of NIR spectroscopy to predict different meat properties, considering the literature published mainly in the last decade. Firstly, the potential of NIR to predict chemical composition (crude protein, intramuscular fat, moisture/dry matter, ash, gross energy, myoglobin and collagen), technological parameters (pH value;
L*,
a*,
b* colour values; water holding capacity; Warner–Bratzler and slice shear force) and sensory attributes (colour, shape, marbling, odour, flavour, juiciness, tenderness or firmness) are reviewed. Secondly, the usefulness of NIR for classification into meat quality grades is presented and thirdly its potential application in the industry is shown. The review indicates that NIR showed high potential to predict chemical meat properties and to categorize meat into quality classes. In contrast, NIR showed limited ability for estimating technological and sensory attributes, which may be mainly due to the heterogeneity of the meat samples and their preparation, the low precision of the reference methods and the subjectivity of assessors in taste panels. Hence, future work to standardize sample preparation and increase the accuracy of reference methods is recommended to improve NIR ability to predict those technological and sensory characteristics. In conclusion, the review shows that NIR has a considerable potential to predict simultaneously numerous meat quality criteria.
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