Predicting Color Traits of Intact Broiler Breast Fillets Using Visible and Near-Infrared Spectroscopy

Synergetic application of thermal imaging and CCD imaging techniques to detect mutton adulteration based on data-level fusion and deep residual network

To improve the performance of single thermal imaging and single CCD imaging in detecting unknown adulterated meat samples, these two imaging techniques combined with a deep residual network were synergistically applied to detect mutton adulteration. Considering the importance of spatial and detailed information in improving stability and accuracy, three data-level fusion methods, namely, colour image stitching, grey image stitching and grey channel stacking, were proposed for the fusion of thermal images and CCD images. Classification and prediction models were further developed based on fusion images. The results showed that the models with colour image stitching achieved the best performance. For the external validation set, the accuracy of the best classification model in discriminating five categories was 99.30%. In predicting pork proportions, the R2, RMSE, RPD and RER of the best prediction model were 0.9717, 0.0238, 7.8696 and 21.28, respectively. The best prediction model for duck proportions had a R2 of 0.9616, RMSE of 0.0277, RPD of 5.1015, and RER of 14.44. Therefore, the synergetic application of thermal imaging and CCD imaging can provide a novel and promising tool to detect mutton adulteration and the quality of other food items.

Evaluation of Dual-Band Near-Infrared Spectroscopy and Chemometric Analysis for Rapid Quantification of Multi-Quality Parameters of Soy Sauce Stewed Meat

The objective of this study was to evaluate the performance of near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) systems operated in dual band for the non-destructive measurement of the fat, protein, collagen, ash, and Na contents of soy sauce stewed meat (SSSM). Spectra in the waveband ranges of 650-950 nm and 960-1660 nm were acquired from vacuum-packed ready-to-eat samples that were purchased from 97 different brands. Partial least squares regression (PLSR) was employed to develop models predicting the five critical quality parameters. The results showed the best predictions were for the fat (Rp = 0.808; RMSEP = 2.013 g/kg; RPD = 1.666) and protein (Rp = 0.863; RMSEP = 3.372 g/kg; RPD = 1.863) contents, while barely sufficient performances were found for the collagen (Rp = 0.524; RMSEP = 1.970 g/kg; RPD = 0.936), ash (Rp = 0.384; RMSEP = 0.524 g/kg; RPD = 0.953), and Na (Rp = 0.242; RMSEP = 2.097 g/kg; RPD = 1.042) contents of the SSSM. The quality of the content predicted by the spectrum of 960-1660 nm was generally better than that for the 650-950 nm range, which was retained in the further prediction of fat and protein. To simplify the models and make them practical, regression models were established using a few wavelengths selected by the random frog (RF) or regression coefficients (RCs) method. Consequently, ten wavelengths (1048 nm, 1051 nm, 1184 nm, 1191 nm, 1222 nm, 1225 nm, 1228 nm, 1450 nm, 1456 nm, 1510 nm) selected by RF and eight wavelengths (1019 nm, 1097 nm, 1160 nm, 1194 nm, 1245 nm, 1413 nm, 1441 nm, 1489 nm) selected by RCs were individually chosen for the fat and protein contents to build multi-spectral PLSR models. New models led to the best predictive ability of Rp, RMSEP, and RPD of 0.812 and 0.855, 1.930 g/kg and 3.367 g/kg, and 1.737 and 1.866, respectively. These two simplified models both yielded comparable performances to their corresponding full-spectra models, demonstrating the effectiveness of these selected variables. The overall results indicate that NIRS, especially in the spectral range of 960-1660 nm, is a potential tool in the rapid estimation of the fat and protein contents of SSSM, while not providing particularly good prediction statistics for collagen, ash, and Na contents.

Effects of Hard and Soft Scalding on Defeathering and Carcass Quality of Different Breeds of Chickens

Current soft scalding in broilers is not applicable to various strains of chickens with different market weights and ages. This study aimed to examine the effectiveness of soft (57 °C for 120 s) and hard (60 °C for 60 s) scalding on defeathering and carcass quality of the local strain of Red Feather (RF) country chickens and determine age, breed, and body weight factor in accounting for the defeathering effectiveness using adult layers and juvenile broilers as a reference. Results showed no differences between soft and hard scalding in broilers with 60% and 80% of acceptable defeathering scores, respectively, while a significantly better effect by hard scalding was observed in adult layers, young and old RF chickens with more than 70% of birds exhibiting desirable scores and less than 20% by soft scalding. In contrast to soft scalding, hard scalding had no significant effects on breast meat color but impaired skin color in broilers as assessed by L*, a*, and b* value analysis. Interestingly, hard scalding increased breast skin yellowness and lightness in young RF chickens and lightness in old RF chickens, while there were no significant changes in layers. However, hard scalding decreased skin elasticity in layers and old RF chickens. The effectiveness of defeathering by scalding method was governed by the age to reach a certain threshold in the development of dermal architecture and feather richness, irrelevant to body weight. The alteration of carcass color primarily depends on age, body weight/breed, and their interaction. In conclusion, current soft scalding is suitable for broiler chickens for desirable defeathering effect and carcass color, whereas layers and RF chickens scaled at 60 °C for 60 s showed a better defeathering effect without unfavorable changes of breast meat and skin color.

Quality parameters of chicken breast meat affected by carcass scalding conditions

Objective

The influence of broiler carcass scalding conditions on chicken breast meat quality parameters was investigated.

Methods

Two hundred and seventy Cobb broiler chickens from 42 to 48 days old were slaughtered according to the standard industry practice and scalded in five temperature/time combinations—T₁, 54°C/210 s; T₂, 55°C/180 s; T₃, 56°C/150 s; T₄, 57°C/120 s; T₅, 58°C/90 s.

Results

Scalding temperature increase resulted in higher values of external and ventral lightness and in protein functionality reduction—determined by emulsification capacity and protein denaturation—in chicken breast fillets 24 h post-mortem. Protein secondary structures had conformational changes, with a decrease of the α-helix and an increase of the β-sheet and β-turn proportions, mainly in T₁ and T₅ samples, determined by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy in an attenuated reflectance mode analysis. The chemical composition, pH, water holding capacity and Warner-Bratzler shear force did not differ among the treatments. In the fatty acid profile, the 18:1n-9 was lower in T₅, which suggested that the high scalding-temperature could have caused the lipid oxidation. The values of the polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), such as 22:2, 20:4n-6, and 22:6n-3, were highest in the T₅, thus being related to the phospholipid cellular membrane collapse in this experimental condition and subsequent release of these PUFA.

Conclusion

Intermediate scalding-parameters avoided the negative changes in the chicken meat quality.