Beef texture characterization using internationally established texture vocabularies in ISO5492:1992: Differences among four different end-point temperatures in three muscles of Holstein steers

The challenges and prospects of using cold plasma to prevent bacterial contamination and biofilm formation in the meat industry

The risk of foodborne disease outbreaks increases when the pathogenic bacteria are able to form biofilms, and this presents a major threat to public health. An emerging non-thermal cold plasma (CP) technology has proven a highly effective method for decontaminating meats and their products and extended their shelf life. CP treatments have ability to reduce microbial load and, biofilm formation with minimal change of color, pH value, and lipid oxidation of various meat and meat products. The CP technique offers many advantages over conventional processing techniques due to its layout flexibility, nonthermal behavior, affordability, and ecological sustainability. The technology is still in its infancy, and continuous research efforts are needed to realize its full potential in the meat industry. This review addresses the basic principles and the impact of CP technology on biofilm formation, meat quality (including microbiological, color, pH value, texture, and lipid oxidation), and microbial inactivation pathways and also the prospects of this technology.

Sensory Evaluation of Plant-Based Meat: Bridging the Gap with Animal Meat, Challenges and Future Prospects

Globally, the demand for plant-based meat is increasing rapidly as these products are becoming quite popular among vegans and vegetarians. However, its development is still in the early stage and faces various technological challenges; the imitation of the sensory profile of meat is the most challenging part as these products are meant to be an alternative to animal meat. The development of a product similar to meat requires accurate selection of ingredients and processing techniques. An understanding of the relevant sensory profile can help in constructing products and technologies that are consumer-centric and sustainable. In this review, we focus on the comparative differences in the sensory profiles of animal meat and plant-based meat alternatives, particularly regarding the color, texture, and flavor, along with the methods used to compare them. This paper also explains the sensory evaluation and how it affects consumer preference and acceptability. Additionally, a direction for further research on developing better plant-based meat products is suggested.

The short-term feeding of low- and high-histidine diets prior to market affects the muscle carnosine and anserine contents and meat quality of broilers

Functional dipeptides carnosine and anserine are abundant in muscle. We determined the effect of short-term dietary histidine (His) content on muscle carnosine and anserine contents and meat quality of broilers. Three groups of 28-day-old female broilers were fed diets with His contents of 67%, 100%, or 150% of requirement for 10 days before market (His contents 0.21%, 0.32%, and 0.48%, respectively). The carnosine and anserine contents of 0-h aged muscle significantly increased with dietary His content; in particular, the carnosine content was 162% higher in the His 0.48% group than in the His 0.32% group. The contents of both peptides also increased with dietary His content in 48-h aged muscle, but carnosine was not detected in 0- and 48-h aged muscle of the His 0.21% group. The drip loss, cooking loss, shear force, and pH of meat were not affected by the dietary His content. The 2-thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances contents of 24- and 48-h aged muscles were lower in the His 0.48% group than in the other groups, and the a* and b* values were lower in the His 0.21% group. These results suggest that short-term dietary His content affects imidazole dipeptide contents, antioxidative capacity, and color of broiler meat.

A Critical review focusing the effect of ingredients on the textural properties of plant-based meat products

Plant-based meat alternatives have been studied for decades, but have recently gained more attraction in the food industries and research communities. Concern about animal welfare, health, environment and moral beliefs acts as a driving force for the growth of plant-based meat products. The most challenging task in the development of meat analog is to imitate the texture of conventional meat products. The fabrication of plant-based meat product requires a wise selection and formulation of ingredients to perfectly mimic the fibrous structure of meat. Top-down and bottom-up approaches are the two most commonly used structuring techniques for the preparation of plant-based meat products. Development of comminuted meat product is easy as compared to the whole-muscle type plant-based meat products. Several plant-based ingredients such as texturized and non-texturized proteins, fats, binding agents, flavoring and coloring agents accompanied with different processing techniques (extrusion, shear cell, wet spinning, electrospinning, and freeze structuring) are used in the preparation of meat analogs. This paper aims to discuss the impact of ingredients on the textural properties of plant-based meat products.

Diversity of Japanese consumers' requirements, sensory perceptions, and eating preferences for meat

Japanese consumers are generally characterized as preferring high marbling in beef and pork and choosing domestic products. However, the Japanese food market is not homogenous. Understanding the diversity of Japanese consumers will provide benefits for the optimization of meat production and distribution in Japan. This article focuses on three factors affecting purchasing decisions and eating satisfaction, namely, requirements, sensory perception, and eating preferences, in order to understand the diversity of Japanese consumers in a simplified manner. Diversity was observed in Japanese consumers in all three of these factors (requirements, perception, and preference) using a questionnaire survey, sensory and biological procedures, and an eating preference test. These diversities are due to not only sociodemographic characteristics but also biological and physiological factors, background culture, and individual attitudes and criteria. Although consumer variation based on sociodemographic characteristics is of course important, it is equally important to understand diversity by focusing on the individual differences among consumers.

Relationship between instrumental and sensory texture profile of beef semitendinosus muscles with different textures

Texture of meat is a critical factor in oral processing and bolus formation, especially for people suffering from dysphagia. The present study evaluated and compared the texture changes of beef semitendinosus muscles upon cooking, using sensory panelists and instrumental texture profile analysis. Cooking losses were also estimated. The correlation between instrumental and sensory parameters were established. Training with sensory texture profile enabled panelists to clearly identify and describe meat textural attributes except cohesiveness and springiness. Increased cooking temperature (65-85°C) and time (30-60 min) significantly (p < .05) increased hardness, chewiness, and cook loss of beef whereas adhesiveness and juiciness decreased significantly. The correlation data showed significant positive correlations between instrumental and sensory hardness, chewiness, and adhesiveness and poor correlations between cohesiveness and springiness. Results show that the texture profile analyzer has a possibility to replace sensory analysis for hardness, chewiness, and adhesiveness; however, future work is needed to address cohesiveness and springiness of meat.

The impact of emerging domestic and commercial electro-heating technologies on energy consumption and quality parameters of cooked beef

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of e-Cooker® and moderate electric field (MEF) cooking on physical and chemical changes occurring during the cooking of meat. Beef muscle samples (38.86 ± 0.08 g) were cooked in saline solution (0.5% w/w NaCl) to a target temperature of 72 °C, followed by a 2 min holding time. The experimental results revealed that e-Cooker® and MEF significantly reduced the come-up time required to achieve a target temperature of 72 °C to 1.16 ± 0.02 min and 0.86 ± 0.02 min, respectively compared to 14.12 ± 0.55 min in conventional cooking. The colour and instrumental texture of cooked meat by e-Cooker® and MEF systems were not significantly different (P > 0.05) from conventionally cooked ones. Overall, the results obtained demonstrated that e-Cooker® and MEF can be used to cook meat in a shorter time and reasonably low energy input while producing a product which is comparable in quality to conventionally cooked meat.

Dielectric barrier discharge cold atmospheric plasma: Influence of processing parameters on microbial inactivation in meat and meat products

Decontamination of meat is commonly practiced to get rid of or decrease the microbial presence on the meat surface. Dielectric barrier discharge cold atmospheric plasma (DBD-CAP) as innovative technology is a food microbial inactivation technique considered in high regard by food scientists and engineers in present times. However, cold atmospheric plasma application is at the experimental stage, due to lack of sufficient information on its mode of action in inactivating microbes, food shelf-life extensibility, whereas, the nutritional value of food is preserved. In this review, we have appraised recent work on DBD-CAP concerning the decontamination treatment of meat products, highlighting the processing value results on the efficacy of the DBD-CAP microbial inactivation technique. Also, the paper will review the configurations, proposed mechanisms, and chemistry of DBD-CAP. Satisfactory microbial inactivation was observed. In terms of DBD-CAP application on sensory evaluation, inferences from reviewed literature showed that DBD has no significant effect on meat color and tenderness, whereas in contrast, TBARS values of fresh and processed meat are affected. DBD seems economically efficient and environmentally sustainable.

Qualitative and Quantitative Comparisons of Texture Characteristics between Broiler and Jidori-niku, Japanese Indigenous Chicken Meat, Assessed by a Trained Panel

The texture of jidori-niku (Japanese indigenous native chicken meat) was characterized and compared with those of Chunky broiler chicken meat. Experiment 1: A qualitative sensory test using jidori-niku and broiler breast (pectoralis major, PM), thigh (biceps femoris, BF) and sasami (deep pectoral) meat cooked to the end-point temperature 75°C by steam-heating was administered to a trained sensory panel (n=16–17) for the selection of descriptive texture items from ISO5492 texture words. By the correspondence analysis, the characteristics of ‘chewiness,’ ‘hardness’ and ‘springiness’ were found to be different between jidori-niku and broiler: they likely characterize jidori-niku texture. Experiment 2: Texture characteristics in the three above-mentioned muscles in jidori-niku and broiler were compared quantitatively using the three above-mentioned texture items by the trained sensory panel. Sensory chewiness and hardness were the highest in the broiler PM and second highest in the jidori-niku BF, whereas sensory springiness was the highest in the jidori-niku BF. These results suggest that jidori-niku-like texture was characterized as a springy texture as compared to broiler meat.

Effects of Cooking End-point Temperature and Muscle Part on Sensory 'Hardness' and 'Chewiness' Assessed Using Scales Presented in ISO11036:1994

Texture and ‘tenderness’ in particular, is an important sensory characteristic for consumers’ satisfaction of beef. Objective and detailed sensory measurements of beef texture have been needed for the evaluation and management of beef quality. This study aimed to apply the sensory scales defined in ISO11036:1994 to evaluate the texture of beef. Longissimus and Semitendinosus muscles of three Holstein steers cooked to end-point temperatures of 60°C and 72°C were subjected to sensory analyses by a sensory panel with expertise regarding the ISO11036 scales. For the sensory analysis, standard scales of ‘chewiness’ (9-points) and ‘hardness’ (7-points) were presented to the sensory panel with reference materials defined in ISO11036. As a result, both ‘chewiness’ and ‘hardness’ assessed according to the ISO11036 scales increased by increasing the cooking end-point temperature, and were different between Longissimus and Semitendinosus muscles. The sensory results were in good agreement with instrumental texture measurements. However, both texture ratings in this study were in a narrower range than the full ISO scales. For beef texture, ISO11036 scales for ‘chewiness’ and ‘hardness’ are useful for basic studies, but some alterations are needed for practical evaluation of muscle foods.

Effect of dietary astaxanthin rich yeast, Phaffia rhodozyma, on meat quality of broiler chickens

We evaluated effects of dietary supplementation with astaxanthin (Ax)-rich yeast, Phaffia rhodozyma (Xanthophyllomyces dendrorhous), on broiler chicken meat quality. Fourteen-day-old female Ross broilers were divided into three groups: control group, Ax-free diet; Ax 10 group, 10 mg/kg Ax diet; and Ax 20 group, 20 mg/kg Ax diet for 28 days. At 42 days old, chickens were slaughtered, and then growth performance, meat quality and sensory attributes were analyzed. Compared with the control, a* values increased significantly after slaughter and 48 h postmortem for Ax 20 samples (P<0.05) and for b* values in Ax 20 and Ax 10 groups (P<0.05). Cooking loss decreased in the Ax 20 group (P<0.05). After 120 h aging, contents of several free amino acids and total free amino acid content of Ax 20 group were significantly higher than the control (P<0.05). In sensory evaluation, meat texture attributes improved significantly in the Ax 20 group (P<0.01). No significant changes occurred in flavor attribute scores of meat soup from the Ax 20 group compared with the control even though most assessors preferred meat soup from the Ax 20 group. Overall, Ax-rich yeast in the diet improves broiler chicken meat quality.

Characterization and classification of Japanese consumer perceptions for beef tenderness using descriptive texture characteristics assessed by a trained sensory panel

Meat tenderness is an important characteristic in terms of consumer preference and satisfaction. However, each consumer may have his/her own criteria to judge meat tenderness, because consumers are neither selected nor trained like an expert sensory panel. This study aimed to characterize consumer tenderness using descriptive texture profiles such as chewiness and hardness assessed by a trained panel. Longissimus muscles cooked at four different end-point temperatures were subjected to a trained sensory panel (n=18) and consumer (n=107) tenderness tests. Multiple regression analysis showed that consumer tenderness was characterized as 'low-chewiness and low hardness texture.' Subsequently, consumers were divided into two groups by cluster analysis according to tenderness perceptions in each participant, and the two groups were characterized as 'tenderness is mainly low-chewiness' and 'tenderness is mainly low-hardness' for tenderness perception, respectively. These results demonstrate objective characteristics and variability of consumer meat tenderness, and provide new information regarding the evaluation and management of meat tenderness for meat manufacturers.

Effects of low protein diet and low protein diet supplemented with synthetic essential amino acids on meat quality of broiler chickens

We investigated the effects of a low crude protein (CP) diet and a low CP diet supplemented with synthetic essential amino acids (EAA) on the meat quality of broiler chickens. Twenty-one-day-old chickens were assigned to one of three diets: control, low CP (LCP), or low CP supplemented with EAA (ELCP). The chickens received these diets for 10 days. The shear force value (SFV) and free glutamate content of the Pectoralis major muscle were measured as indicators of the meat toughness and taste. The collagen and crude fat content of the muscle and the cross-sectional area of myofibers were measured to evaluate the effects of the LCP and ELCP diets on meat toughness. The SFV of the ELCP group was 47% lower than that of the control group (P<0.01). However, the LCP diet did not affect the SFV. The collagen and crude fat content were not affected by the dietary treatment. The cross-sectional area was lower in the LCP and ELCP groups (P<0.05) than the control group. The free glutamate content of muscle was not affected by the dietary treatment. Thus, a low CP diet supplemented with EAA is an effective means of producing tender meat.

Increased intramuscular fat improves both 'chewiness' and 'hardness' as defined in ISO5492:1992 of beef Longissimus muscle of Holstein × Japanese black F1 steers

It is considered that high-fat beef is more 'tender' than low-fat beef in Japanese consumers. However, 'tenderness' which has been an important beef characteristic, has not been commonly defined. ISO5492:1992 provides internationally established items for sensory texture analysis with simple definitions, and the items classified under 'chewiness' and 'hardness' as defined in the international standard are characterized as useful texture descriptors for beef. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of intramuscular fat on beef texture using the ISO5492 texture vocabulary. Longissimus muscles were harvested from Holstein × Japanese black F1 beef steers with different intramuscular fat levels and were subjected to sensory tests by a trained panel using ISO5492:1992 texture terms. Correspondence analysis indicated that the intramuscular fat level was related to both 'chewiness' and 'hardness' and the intensities of these characteristics decreased as intramuscular fat increased. These findings suggest that intramuscular fat improves both 'chewiness' and 'hardness' as defined in ISO5492:1992.