On-line NIR analysis of fat, water and protein in industrial scale ground meat batches

Fat, water and protein contents in industrial scale meat batches were determined on-line by near infrared (NIR) reflectance spectroscopy. The NIR instrument was mounted at the outlet of a large meat grinder, and the measurements were performed in an industrial environment. Beef and pork samples, with chemical compositions of 7-26% fat, 58-75% water and 15-21% protein, were processed with hole diameters of 13mm in the grinder plate. Calibrations were made both for a combined set of beef and pork samples, and for separate sets of beef and pork samples. Validations were either done by full cross validation of the calibration set, or by bias corrected prediction of a test set. Prediction errors for the two sample sets, expressed as root mean square errors of cross validation or standard error of prediction, were in the ranges 0.82-1.49% fat, 0.94-1.33% water and 0.35-0.70% protein, depending of sample set and species of animal. The presented application is an improvement to the existing manual meat standardisation procedure, and has been implemented for regular use in a Norwegian meat manufacturing plant.

Control of lightness and firmness of cold and reheated frankfurter-type sausages using different spectroscopic methods applied to raw batter

Muscle types and collagen, fat, and muscle protein minus collagen were varied in cooked frankfurter-type sausages made from beef and pork meat as well as pork backfat. The content of collagen was fixed at preset levels with pork rind. The amount of total muscle protein in the sausages varied between 5.9% and 11.9% and the fat between 16.1% and 22.1%. The collagen content varied between 1.3% and 4%. Spectroscopic measurements (near-infrared reflectance spectra 1100 to 2500 nm; front-face autofluorescence emission spectra 360 to 640 nm) on raw batters were used to predict the amounts of total muscle protein minus collagen, collagen, myoglobin, and fat (biochemical components), L* values from a Minolta chromameter, and firmness of cold (22 degrees C) and reheated sausages (60 degrees C). Lightness of sausages was most accurately determined from the batter data with a Minolta chromameter or the autofluorescence measurement system. Firmness of cold sausages could be described by the amounts of biochemical components plus the type of muscle used in the sausage. The 2nd-best approach was to use the shape of the near-infrared spectra to determine firmness. This was possible as the shape of near-infrared spectra depended on total protein content, and total protein content largely determined the firmness of cold sausages. If the sausages were reheated to 60 degrees C, near-infrared spectroscopy alone determined firmness of the sausages with a lower accuracy than a combined solution of fluorescence and near-infrared spectroscopy. The 2 spectroscopic techniques could thus be used to estimate the amount of biochemical components in sausages. Once these components were known, firmness could be calculated from a model between the amounts of biochemical components and firmness. For reheated sausages, as opposed to cold ones, there was a need to differentiate between collagen and the other muscle proteins in order to determine firmness. This was optimally achieved by using both autofluorescence and near-infrared spectroscopy.

Identification of animal species in ground meat mixtures by multivariate analysis of isoelectric focusing protein profiles

The present work investigates the possibility of constructing a multivariate calibration model to predict the composition of ground meat with respect to animal species, based on intensity profiles from isoelectric focusing of water-soluble proteins in mixtures of ground meat. Samples containing various amounts of beef, pork and turkey meat were analyzed by isoelectric focusing in immobilized pH-gradients. The gels were photographed and the images transferred to a digital format. The digital images were processed in order to reduce background and optimize signal strength. Resulting gel profiles were analyzed by multivariate regression allowing the determination of sample composition with prediction errors close to 10%.

The effects of peptide-precipitating lignosulphonic acids on the proteolytic activity of pepsin in vitro and on the response of pigs to an ulcer inducing diet

The inhibitory effect of peptide-precipitating lignosulphonic acids on the proteolytic activity of pepsin in vitro has been studied. When an unfractionated lignosulphonic acid preparation was used, total inhibition of the activity of 5 µg crystalline pepsin was obtained by addition of about 15 mg of lignosulphonic acids.

The greatest inhibitory effect was seen with the high-molecular weight lignosulphonic acids, but an effect was also seen with middle-and low-molecular weight lignosulphonic acids.

A reduction in the inhibitory effect was seen when the experiments were performed in the presence of arginine. The inhibition mechanism is discussed in relation to the peptide-precipitating ability of the lignosulphonic acids.

No obvious protection against the appearance of stomach ulcers in four pigs receiving an ulcerogenic diet was seen.

Gel filtration of lignosulphonic acids and peptide-precipitating abilities of the separated fractions

Lignosulphonic acids in dialysed sulphite spent liquor and purified lignosulphonic acids were subjected to gel chromatography on Sephadex G-75, G-100 and G-200 and the fractions tested for peptide-precipitating ability. About 56 % of the total lignosulphonic acids in the dialysed sulphite spent liquor had estimated molecular weights above 90000 and about 72 % above 44000. About 94 % of the purified lignosulphonic acids had molecular weights above 90000 and the remaining 6 % had above 36000. The major peptide-precipitating activity of the lignosulphonic acids was due to fractions with molecular weights in excess of 90000. The percentage of peptides in the peptide-lignosulphonic acid precipitates was found to be 80–90. The molecular weights of the peptides used were found to have an upper limit of about 20000. The lower limit for molecular weights of lignosulphonic acid-precipitating peptides is estimated to be below 6000.