Current Status of Non-Thermal Sterilization by Pet Food Raw Ingredients

Recently, as the concept of pet food that satisfies both nutritional needs and the five senses has evolved, so too has the demand for effective pet food non-thermal sterilization methods. Prominent non-thermal technologies include high-pressure processing, plasma, and radiation, which are favored for their ability to preserve nutrients, avoid residues, and minimize compositional changes, thereby maintaining quality and sensory properties. However, to assess their effectiveness on pet food, it is essential to optimize operational parameters such as pressure levels, plasma intensity, radiation dosage, and temperature. Further studies are needed to evaluate microbial sterilization efficacy and sensory attributes. This exploration is expected to lay the groundwork for preventing zoonotic diseases and improving the production of high-quality pet food.

Dynamic changes in the water and volatile compounds of chicken breast during the frying process

The influence of frying times (0, 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10 min) on the continuous changes in the water distribution and the concentrations of key volatile compounds in chicken breast during the frying process were studied. The fried chicken samples could be distinguished by PCA of E-nose and PLS-DA of GC-MS. A total of 40 volatile compounds were identified by GC-MS, and 28 compounds were verified to be the key compounds after further screening by OAVs. The T22 was increased first and then decreased, while the M22 and M23 in fried chicken were considerably decreased and increased with increasing frying time, respectively. The content of the water and the total peak area of LF-NMR in fried chicken samples during the frying process significantly decreased, and the water was transferred from high to low degrees of freedom. In addition, water content, T21, T22, M22 and L* value were positively correlated with most alcohols and aldehydes, and were negatively correlated with pyrazines, while a*, b*, M23 and all amino acids were positively correlated with pyrazines and were negatively correlated with most alcohols and aldehydes. The results may guide the production processes of fried chicken and help produce high-quality chicken products.

CAM-21, a novel lytic phage with high specificity towards Escherichia coli O157:H7 in food products

Escherichia coli O157:H7 is a foodborne pathogen that has become a serious global concern for food safety. Despite the application of different traditional biocontrol methods in the food industry, food borne disease outbreaks linked to this organism remain. Due to their high specificity, lytic bacteriophages are promising antimicrobial agents that could be utilized to control pathogens in foods. In this study, a novel Escherichia phage, CAM-21, was isolated from a dairy farm environment. CAM-21 showed targeted host specificity towards various serotypes of Shiga toxin-producing E. coli, including O157:H7, O26, O103, and O145. Morphological analyses revealed that CAM-21 has a polyhedron capsid and a contractile tail with a diameter of about 92.83 nm, and length of about 129.75 nm, respectively. CAM-21 showed a strong inhibitory effect on the growth of E. coli O157:H7, even at a multiplicity of infection (MOI) of as low as 0.001. Phage adsorption and one-step growth analysis indicated that the target pathogen was rapidly lysed by CAM-21 that exhibited a short latent time (20 min). Electron microscopic and genomic DNA analyses suggested that CAM-21 is a lytic phage, classified as a new species in the Tequatrovirus genus of the Myoviridae Family. Based on whole genome sequencing, CAM-21 has a double-stranded DNA with 166,962 bp, 265 open reading frames and 11 tRNA. The genome of CAM-21 did not encode toxins, virulence factors, antibiotic resistance, lysogeny or allergens. Phylogenetic and genomic comparative analyses suggested that CAM-21 is a T4-like phage species. The growth of E. coli O157:H7 was effectively controlled in milk, ground beef and baby spinach at MOIs of 1000 and 10,000. CAM-21 significantly (P ≤ 0.05) reduced the bacterial counts of the treated foods, ranging from 1.4-2.0 log CFU/mL in milk to 1.3-1.4 log CFU/g in ground beef and baby spinach. These findings suggest that the lytic phage, CAM-21, is a potential candidate for controlling E. coli O157:H7 contamination in foods.

INFLUENCE OF THE HYDROTHERMAL TREATMENT TEMPERATURE CONDITIONS ON POULTRY MEAT

The poultry production is growing rapidly every year. Having a rapid pace of development and reproduction, and greater affordability, the poultry products are in high demand from the population. In this regard, the industry is in demand for deep processing of poultry meat, which is not only economically feasible, but also makes it possible to expand the scope of use of this product. The complex morphological structure of the poultry complicates its use as the main raw material for meat products, and poultry meat is mainly sold in the form of natural semi-finished products with a limited shelf life. It is possible to expand the range of poultry products through the production of canned food. A new technology for the production of pasteurized canned poultry meat was developed at the Department of Meat, Fish and Seafood Technology of the Odessa National Academy of Food Technologies. This technology involves hydrothermal treatment of the raw materials, hot boning, mixing of components of the formulation and pasteurization. This article reveals the issue of the first stage of production, namely the establishment of rational meat hydrothermal treatment conditions. The problem of choosing the heat treatment conditions is extremely important, because depending on the process conditions and the final heating temperature, the transformation of the components and the properties of the finished products differ significantly. The paper studies the effect of temperature in the range from 65 to 95°C in 5°C increment on the rate and degree of cooking of collagen, the formation of the required structure of the product (hydrogel base filled with individual muscle fibers), hardness and tenderness of meat. It is established that the optimal processing temperature of poultry meat is 65°C. The meat processed at this temperature had the highest degree of collagen cooking, the highest viscosity of the broth, the lowest shear stress, and the best organoleptic characteristics.

DECREASE OF REPEATED CONTAMINATION OF PACKED DELI-CIOUS MEAT PRODUCTS

The study considers a problem of repeated contamination of delicious products, ready for consumption. The aim of the work is to study the repeated thermal processing of a ready vacuum-packed whole-muscular meat product for inhibiting a surface microbiota. Today it is urgent for the meat industry, because it influences safety and quality, and also limits a storage term of a product. After bringing a meat product to culinary readiness by thermal processing, it has an unessential amount of microbiota. Microorganisms, including pathogenic and conventionally pathogenic ones, fall on a product after its cooking at cutting, preparation to package and at the package stage itself. Microbiological contamination of a ready meat product results in fast spoilage and is a serious problem for producers, because the microbiota growth shortens its storage life. In its turn, it results in a refuse of a consumer to buy this product and great economic losses for producers. The study is directed on a possibility of solving a problem of contamination of a whole-muscular delicious meat product. The solution is in package of a ready product under vacuum and short-term heating at a high temperature. The work is devoted to the complex study of an influence of repeated pasteurization on safety and quality of a product. There was studied an influence of the repeated thermal processing (post-pasteurization) on microbiological, physical-chemical and also organoleptic parameters of a delicious meat product. The special attention is paid to an influence of post-pasteurization regimes on a microbiological condition of studied samples. Studies of a total amount of microbiota and also the presence of sanitary-representative microorganisms were conducted. It has been proven, that the use of post-pasteurization essentially inhibits a number of microorganisms, and also doesn’t influence physical-chemical parameters outlook of a product and organoleptic characteristics. Based on studying an influence of post-pasteurization, it has been established, that inhibition of a microbiota essentially influences safety and prolongs the storage term of a product.