Relationship between the essential and toxic element concentrations and the proximate composition of different commercial and internal cuts of young beef

Marinated oven-grilled beef entrecôte meat from a bovine farm: Evaluation of resultant physicochemical and organoleptic attributes

Understanding the impact that combined action of marination and oven grill processes would have on such meat products as beef entrecôte is crucial from both consumer appeal and product development standpoints. Therefore, different marinated oven-grilled beef entrecôte meat specifically evaluating resultant physicochemical and organoleptic attributes were studied. The beef entrecôte meat was provided by a reputable local bovine farm/slaughter at Wroclaw, Poland. Physicochemical attributes involved antioxidant (2,2'-azinobis(3-ethylbenzothiaziline-6-sulfonate) (ABTS), 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP)), (pH, thiobarbituric acid reactive substance (TBARS), cooking weight loss, L*a*b* color, and textural cutting force). Organoleptic attributes involved sensory (flavour, appearance, tenderness, taste) and texture (hardness, chewiness, gumminess, graininess, and greasiness) aspects. Different marination variants involved constituent 0.5%, 1%, and 1.5% quantities of cranberry pomace (CP), grape pomace (GP), and Baikal skullcap (BS), subsequently incorporated either African spice (AS) or industrial marinade/pickle (IM). Results showed pH, ABTS, DPPH, FRAP, TBARS, L*a*b* color, cooking weight loss, and textural cutting force, sensory and textural profile with varying range values. Concentration increases of either CP, GP, and or BS may not always go along with ABTS, DPPH, and FRAP values, given the observed decreasing or increasing fluctuations. As oven-grilling either increased or decreased the TBARS values alongside some color and textural cutting force trends, pH variations by difference seemed more apparent at samples involving GP, before CP, and then BS. The organoleptic attributes obtained differences and resemblances from both sensory and textural profile standpoints. Overall, oven-grilling promises to moderate both physicochemical and organoleptic range values of different marinated beef entrecôte meat samples in this study.

Insertable, Scabbarded, and Nanoetched Silver Needle Sensor for Hazardous Element Depth Profiling by Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy

Sensing of hazardous metals is urgent in many areas (e.g., water pollution and meat products) as heavy metals threaten people's health. Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS), as a rapid, in situ, and multielemental analytical technique, has been widely utilized in rapid hazardous heavy metal sensing. However, loose and water-containing samples (e.g., meat, plant, and soil) are hard to analyze by LIBS directly, and heavy metal depth profiling for bulk samples remains suspenseful. Here, inspired by the Needle, the sword of Arya Stark in Game of Thrones, we propose an insertable, scabbarded, and nanoetched silver (NE-Ag) needle sensor for rapid hazardous element sensing and depth profiling. The NE-Ag needle sensor features a micro-nanostructure surface for inserting into the bulk sample and absorbing hazardous analytes. For accurate elemental depth profiling, we design a stainless-steel scabbard to wrap and protect the NE-Ag needle from pollution (unexpected contaminant absorption) during the needle insertion and extraction process. The results for cadmium (Cd) show that the relative standard deviation equals to 6.7% and the limit of detection reaches 0.8 mg/L (ppm). Furthermore, the correlations (Pearson correlation coefficient) for Cd and chromium (Cr) depth profiling results are no less than 0.96. Furthermore, the total testing time could be less than 1 h. All in all, the insertable and scabbarded NE-Ag needle senor has high potential in rapid hazardous heavy metal depth profiling in different industries.

Importance of breed aptitude (beef or dairy) in determining trace element concentrations in bovine muscles

The aim of this study was to determine the concentrations of various trace elements in muscles with different oxidative/glycolytic profiles (cardiac [CA]; diaphragm [DI], as oxidative; trapezius [TR], as intermediate oxidative/glycolytic; and semimembranosus [SM], as glycolytic muscle) of ten dairy-aptitude (Holstein-Friesian, HF), ten beef-aptitude (Galician Blonde, GB) and ten cross-breed (GBxHF) calves. The type of muscle was a highly significant factor in relation to the concentrations of all elements, whereas breed was only significant for Fe, Mn and Zn in the SM muscle. The concentrations of the main trace elements (Cu, Fe, Se and Zn) were significantly lower in GB and GBxHF than in HF, that were mainly associated with differences in the oxidative/glycolytic profile, probably due to the muscular hypertrophy characteristic of heavily muscled breeds. The pattern of distribution was similar in all breeds, with significantly higher concentrations in the CA muscle, followed by the DI; trace element concentrations in the SM and TR muscles were very similar.