Prevalence of consumption of mechanically separated meat, consumer profile, nutrient intake and food choices among manufacturing workers in Northeastern Brazil

Mechanically separated meat (MSM) is widely used in the food industry, however, there is a lack of studies on its consumption in populations. The objective of this study was to identify the frequency and amount of MSM consumption, factors associated with MSM consumption, nutrient intake and preferential choice of food groups among MSM consumers. This was an observational, cross-sectional prospective study based on a probability sample of manufacturing workers, conducted in Brazil. Logistic and linear multiple regression with robust standard errors were used. 921 workers from 33 manufacturing companies were studied, with an average age of 38.2 ± 10.7 years, 55.9% males. MSM products are consumed by 28.8% and represent in average 10% of total daily caloric intake, and 47.3% of the daily kcal from ultra-processed products. Younger age and greater waist circumference are associated with MSM consumption. Younger age and lesser educational level are associated with increased contribution of MSM to total daily kcal intake. MSM consumers have greater consumption of energy, fats, carbohydrates and sodium. Their dietary patterns are characterized by lower consumption of in natura and minimally processed foods, such as tubers and roots, fruits, white and red meat, and eggs and greater consumption of ultra-processed foods and beverages.

Recovery of emulsifying and gelling protein from waste chicken exudate by using a sustainable pH-shifting treatment

The inevitably generated chicken exudate was usually unconsciously discarded, leading to protein waste and environmental pollution. The study is performed to reveal the loss and constitute of different sourced exudate (purge exudate/defrozen exudate, PE/DE), investigate the efficiency of various pH-shifting strategies (Method I: NaOH-HCl, Method II: Ca(OH)₂-Critric acid, and Method III: Ca(OH)₂-Glucono δ-lactone) in recovering selected exudate, and evaluate the functionality of these recovered protein isolates. Accordingly, PE and DE shared greatly similar (P > 0.05) lipid and ash content. Despite sarcoplasmic protein, there are a small amount of functional myofibrillar protein in the exudate samples. During extraction, Method III had higher recovery yield (85.5%) than other two groups, but the isolates contained higher level of moisture. The protein isolates treated with Method II exhibited highest emulsion ability, while the Method III treated group obtained best gelation properties. Overall, pH-shifting could recover functional protein from chicken exudate for industrial application.

Removal of Lipids, Cholesterol, Nucleic Acids and Haem Pigments During Production of Protein Isolates from Broiler Meat Using pH-shift Processes

The effect of acid and alkaline pH shift processes on removal of total lipids, cholesterol, nucleic acids and haem pigments during production of protein isolates from broiler meat was investigated. The gel-forming ability of resulting protein isolates were evaluated in comparison with raw broiler meat and water washed broiler meat. Significant reduction of total lipids, cholesterol, nucleic acids and haem proteins was obtained from both pH shift processes (p < 0.05). Acid process recovered more protein with less total haem pigments resulting in a greater breaking force and whiteness of the isolate gel compared to alkaline counterpart (p < 0.05). However, protein isolate gels showed inferior deformation and water holding capacity to washed mince gel (p < 0.05). Therefore, the pH shift processing could be used to produce a functional protein isolate with low nucleic acids, haem pigments and lipids and, thereby, reduced cholesterol level. The protein isolates, particularly acid version, still had good gelling properties.

Effect of pretreatment on lipid oxidation and fishy odour development in protein hydrolysates from the muscle of Indian mackerel

Impact of different pretreatments on chemical compositions of Indian mackerel mince was studied. Mince prepared using washing/membrane removal/alkaline solubilisation process (W-MR-Al) contained the lowest remaining myoglobin and haem iron content and also showed the lowest total lipid and phospholipid contents. When mince and W-MR-Al were hydrolysed using Alcalase for up to 120 min, a higher degree of hydrolysis (DH) was found in W-MR-Al after 30 min of hydrolysis. Furthermore, hydrolysate from W-MR-Al had lower peroxide value (PV), thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) and non-haem iron content throughout hydrolysis period (P<0.05). When hydrolysate powder produced from mince and W-MR-Al (0-0.3%w/v) were fortified in milk, the former resulted in the lower likeness score (P<0.05) at all levels used. The addition of the latter, for up to 0.2%, had no effect on likeness of all attributes, compared with milk without fortification (P>0.05). Therefore, the appropriate pretreatment of mince yielded hydrolysate with lower fishy odour.