Umami Characteristics and Taste Improvement Mechanism of Meat.

Taste is one of the five senses that detect vital information about what we are eating. Comprehending taste is crucial for enhancing the flavor of foodstuffs and high-protein foods like meat. Umami has global recognition as the fifth elementary taste, alongside sweetness, sourness, saltiness, and bitterness. Umami compounds are known to enhance the sensation of recognized flavors such as salty, sweet, bitter, and others. This could end up in greater food consumption by consumption by consumers. With the rising global population, meat consumption is rising and is projected to double by 2025. It is crucial to comprehend the umami mechanism of meat and meat products, identify novel compounds, and employ laboratory methodologies to gather varied information. This knowledge will aid in the development of new consumer products. Although very limited information is available on umami taste and compounds in meat through research data. This article discusses recent advancements in umami compounds in other foodstuff as well as meat to aid in designing future research and meat product development. Moreover, another objective of this review is to learn present techniques in foodstuffs to enhance umami taste and utilize that knowledge in meat products.

Modern Concepts of Restructured Meat Production and Market Opportunities.

Restructured meat (RM) products are gaining importance as an essential component of the meat industry due to consumers' interest in health benefits. RM products imply the binding or holding of meat, meat by-products, and vegetable proteins together to form a meat product with meat's sensory and textural properties. RM products provide consumers with diversified preferences like the intake of low salt, low fat, antioxidants, and high dietary fiber in meat products. From the point of environmental sustainability, RM may aid in combining underutilized products and low-valued meat by adequately utilizing them instead of dumping them as waste material. RM processing technique might also help develop diversified and new hybrid meat products. It is crucial to have more knowledge on the quality issues, selection of binding agents, their optimum proportion, and finally, the ideal processing techniques. It is observed in this study that the most crucial feature of RM could be its healthy products with reduced fat content, which aligns with the preferences of health-conscious consumers who seek low-fat, low-salt, high-fiber options with minimal synthetic additives. This review briefly overviews RM and the factors affecting the quality and shelf life. Moreover, it discusses the recent studies on binding agents in processing RM products. Nonetheless, the recent advancements in processing and market scenarios have been summarized to better understand future research needs. The purpose of this review was to bring light to the ways of sustainable and economical food production.

Scaffolding fundamentals and recent advances in sustainable scaffolding techniques for cultured meat development.

In cultured meat (CM) production, Scaffolding plays an important role by aiding cell adhesion, growth, differentiation, and alignment. The existence of fibrous microstructure in connective and muscle tissues has attracted considerable interest in the realm of tissue engineering and triggered the interest of researchers to implement scaffolding techniques. A wide array of research efforts is ongoing in scaffolding technologies for achieving the real meat structure on the principality of biomedical research and to replace serum free CM production. Scaffolds made of animal-derived biomaterials are found efficient in replicating the extracellular matrix (ECM), thus focus should be paid to utilize animal byproducts for this purpose. Proper identification and utilization of plant-derived scaffolding biomaterial could be helpful to add diversified options in addition to animal derived sources and reduce in cost of CM production through scaffolds. Furthermore, techniques like electrospinning, modified electrospinning and 3D bioprinting should be focused on to create 3D porous scaffolds to mimic the ECM of the muscle tissue and form real meat-like structures. This review discusses recent advances in cutting edge scaffolding techniques and edible biomaterials related to structured CM production.

Meat quality and safety issues during high temperatures and cutting-edge technologies to mitigate the scenario.

Climate change, driven by the natural process of global warming, is a worldwide issue of significant concern because of its adverse effects on livestock output. The increasing trend of environmental temperature surging has drastically affected meat production and meat product quality, hence result in economic losses for the worldwide livestock business. Due to the increasing greenhouse gas emissions, the situation would get prolonged, and heat exposure-related stress is expected to worsen. Heat exposure causes metabolic and physiological disruptions in livestock. Ruminants and monogastric animals are very sensitive to heat stress due to their rate of metabolism, development, and higher production levels. Before slaughter, intense hot weather triggers muscle glycogen breakdown, producing pale, mushy, and exudative meat with less water-holding capacity. Animals exposed to prolonged high temperatures experience a decrease in their muscle glycogen reserves, producing dry, dark, and complex meat with elevated final pH and increased water-holding capacity. Furthermore, heat stress also causes oxidative stresses, especially secondary metabolites from lipid oxidation, severely affects the functionality of proteins, oxidation of proteins, decreasing shelf life, and food safety by promoting exfoliation and bacterial growth. Addressing the heat-related issues to retain the sustainability of the meat sector is an essential task that deserves an inclusive and comprehensive approach. Considering the intensity of the heat stress effects, this review has been designed primarily to examine the consequences of hot environment temperatures and related stresses on the quality and safety of meat and secondarily focus on cutting edge technology to reduce or alleviate the situational impact.

Transferrin-conjugated magnetic nanoparticles for the isolation of brain-derived blood exosomal MicroRNAs: A novel approach for Parkinson's disease diagnosis.

BACKGROUND: Brain-derived exosomes circulate in the bloodstream and other bodily fluids, serving as potential indicators of neurological disease progression. These exosomes present a promising avenue for the early and precise diagnosis of neurodegenerative conditions. Notably, miRNAs found in plasma extracellular vesicles (EVs) offer distinct diagnostic benefits due to their stability, abundance, and resistance to breakdown. RESULTS: In this study, we introduce a method using transferrin conjugated magnetic nanoparticles (TMNs) to isolate these exosomes from the plasma of patients with neurological disorders. This TMNs technique is both quick (<35 min) and cost-effective, requiring no high-priced ingredients or elaborate equipment for EV extraction. Our method successfully isolated EVs from 33 human plasma samples, including those from patients with Parkinson's disease (PD), Multiple Sclerosis (MS), and Dementia. Using quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis, we evaluated the potential of 8 exosomal miRNA profiles as biomarker candidates. Six exosomal miRNA biomarkers (miR-195-5p, miR-495-3p, miR-23b-3P, miR-30c-2-3p, miR-323a-3p, and miR-27a-3p) were consistently linked with all stages of PD. SIGNIFICANCE: The TMNs method provides a practical, cost-efficient way to isolate EVs from biological samples, paving the way for non-invasive neurological diagnoses. Furthermore, the identified miRNA biomarkers in these exosomes may emerge as innovative tools for precise diagnosis in neurological disorders including PD.

The Application of High-Intensity Ultrasound on Wet-Dry Combined Aged Pork Loin Induces Physicochemical and Oxidative Alterations.

This research investigated the synergic outcome of high intensity ultrasound (HIU) treatment and wet-dry combined aging (WDCA) on physiochemical characteristics and lipid oxidation during refrigerated storage to ameliorate pork meat's quality and shelf life. The CIE b* values, cooking loss (CL %), and pH of the HIU treated samples were higher than those of the control over the aging period. They were significantly (p<0.05) modified by the aging period and ultrasound (US) treatment. However, the released water (RW %) and moisture were not significantly influenced by US treatment (p>0.05). The Warner-Bratzler shear force of HIU-treated samples was lower over control values except in 7-14 d, and it showed a significant difference between control and US treatment according to the significance of HIU (p<0.05). The thiobarbituric acid reactive substance of HIU-treated samples was significantly higher (p<0.05) than control values over the aging period. These results suggested that HIU treatment and WDCA showed a synergistic effect of maximizing the tenderness, but lipid oxidation was higher than before ultrasonic treatment. In agreement with this, the most favorable approach would involve implementing wet aging for a period of two weeks followed by dry aging for a period not exceeding one week after the application of HIU.

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.

Aging mechanism for improving the tenderness and taste characteristics of meat.

Tenderness and taste characteristics of meat are the key determinants of the meat choices of consumers. This review summarizes the contemporary research on the molecular mechanisms by which postmortem aging of meat improves the tenderness and taste characteristics. The fundamental mechanism by which postmortem aging improves the tenderness of meat involves the operation of the calpain system due to apoptosis, resulting in proteolytic enzyme-induced degradation of cytoskeletal myofibrillar proteins. The improvement of taste characteristics by postmortem aging is mainly explained by the increase in the content of taste-related peptides, free amino acids, and nucleotides produced by increased hydrolysis activity. This review improves our understanding of the published research on tenderness and taste characteristics of meat and provides insights to improve these attributes of meat through postmortem aging.

Effects of lysine concentration of the diet on growth performance and meat quality in finishing pigs with high slaughter weights.

The present study aimed to investigate the feasibility of using a diet low in lysine content as a means for increasing the intramuscular fat (IMF) content and pork muscle quality of finishing pigs. Thirty-two crossbred gilts and barrows weighing approximately 80 kg were fed either a low-lysine diet (0.60%; Low-lys) or a control diet (0.80% lysine; Med-lys) under a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement of treatments. The animals were slaughtered at a 132-kg body weight (BW) on average, followed by physicochemical analyses and sensory evaluation on Longissimus lumborum (LL) and Semitendinosus (ST) muscles. The average daily gain (ADG) did not differ between the Med-lys and Low-lys groups. However, ADG exhibited a tendency of sex × diet interaction (p = 0.09), being greater for barrows vs. gilts on the Low-lys diet (p < 0.05), but not on the Med-lys diet. Backfat thickness adjusted for 132-kg BW also exhibited the interaction; it was greater for the Low-lys vs. Med-lys group within gilts but tended to be less for the former in barrows (p = 0.08). The IMF content was not influenced by the diet or sex in either LL or ST. The a*, b*, and Warner-Bratzler Shear Force values and fatty acid composition were influenced by the sex or diet in either or both of the muscles, but the treatment effects did not apparently influence the meat quality. Sensory scores for the flavor, juiciness, tenderness, umami, and palatability of cooked muscle were not influenced by the diet in either LL or ST. When the LL and ST data were pooled, scores for those sensory attributes were positively correlated with the IMF content, which was associated with overall greater IMF contents and greater sensory scores for ST vs. LL. Collectively, the Low-lysine diet seemingly elicited the intended lysine deficiency in gilts as indicated by the increased BFT due to the diet. However, the Low-lys diet was not effective for increasing the IMF deposition or eating quality of the pork muscle of finishing pigs slaughtered at high BW probably because its lysine content was not low enough to elicit either outcome.