Bovine Satellite Cells Isolated after 2 and 5 Days of Tissue Storage Maintain the Proliferative and Myogenic Capacity Needed for Cultured Meat Production.

Cultured meat is an emerging alternative food technology which aims to deliver a more ethical, sustainable, and healthy muscle-tissue-derived food item compared to conventional meat. As start-up companies are rapidly forming and accelerating this technology, many aspects of this multi-faceted science have still not been investigated in academia. In this study, we investigated if bovine satellite cells with the ability to proliferate and undergo myogenic differentiation could be isolated after extended tissue storage, for the purpose of increasing the practicality for cultured meat production. Proliferation of bovine satellite cells isolated on the day of arrival or after 2 and 5 days of tissue storage were analyzed by metabolic and DNA-based assays, while their myogenic characteristics were investigated using RT-qPCR and immunofluorescence. Extended tissue storage up to 5 days did not negatively affect proliferation nor the ability to undergo fusion and create myosin heavy chain-positive myotubes. The expression patterns of myogenic and muscle-specific genes were also not affected after tissue storage. In fact, the data indicated a positive trend in terms of myogenic potential after tissue storage, although it was non-significant. These results suggest that the timeframe of which viable myogenic satellite cells can be isolated and used for cultured meat production can be greatly extended by proper tissue storage.

Global and regional drivers of land-use emissions in 1961-2017.

Historically, human uses of land have transformed and fragmented ecosystems1,2, degraded biodiversity3,4, disrupted carbon and nitrogen cycles5,6 and added prodigious quantities of greenhouse gases (GHGs) to the atmosphere7,8. However, in contrast to fossil-fuel carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, trends and drivers of GHG emissions from land management and land-use change (together referred to as 'land-use emissions') have not been as comprehensively and systematically assessed. Here we present country-, process-, GHG- and product-specific inventories of global land-use emissions from 1961 to 2017, we decompose key demographic, economic and technical drivers of emissions and we assess the uncertainties and the sensitivity of results to different accounting assumptions. Despite steady increases in population (+144 per cent) and agricultural production per capita (+58 per cent), as well as smaller increases in emissions per land area used (+8 per cent), decreases in land required per unit of agricultural production (-70 per cent) kept global annual land-use emissions relatively constant at about 11 gigatonnes CO2-equivalent until 2001. After 2001, driven by rising emissions per land area, emissions increased by 2.4 gigatonnes CO2-equivalent per decade to 14.6 gigatonnes CO2-equivalent in 2017 (about 25 per cent of total anthropogenic GHG emissions). Although emissions intensity decreased in all regions, large differences across regions persist over time. The three highest-emitting regions (Latin America, Southeast Asia and sub-Saharan Africa) dominate global emissions growth from 1961 to 2017, driven by rapid and extensive growth of agricultural production and related land-use change. In addition, disproportionate emissions are related to certain products: beef and a few other red meats supply only 1 per cent of calories worldwide, but account for 25 per cent of all land-use emissions. Even where land-use change emissions are negligible or negative, total per capita CO2-equivalent land-use emissions remain near 0.5 tonnes per capita, suggesting the current frontier of mitigation efforts. Our results are consistent with existing knowledge-for example, on the role of population and economic growth and dietary choice-but provide additional insight into regional and sectoral trends.

Effect of information on geographical origin, duration of transport and welfare condition on consumer's acceptance of lamb meat.

Animal production system and welfare conditions can influence consumers' acceptance, as meat from animals grazing in natural pasture and labelled with information about high standards of welfare is preferred. In addition, geographical origin of food is recently considered one of the main information influencing the consumers' acceptance. Local products are collectively associated with high quality attributes by the consumers related to shorter transport and good welfare. Lamb meat is considered local and typical food; however, it is common to find in the same market both local and imported lamb meat. The present investigation aimed at understanding the importance of information about geographical origin, transport duration, and welfare condition of lambs for consumers and their actual liking. Moreover, the quality of lamb meat from local and imported animals as affected by short or long transport was assessed. Data demonstrated that both short and long transport did not affect organoleptic quality of meat; this result was corroborated by an absence of both metabolic and immune stressors in long term transport lambs except for haptoglobin, cortisol and glucose. However, the expected and actual acceptability were affected by the information with higher scores for local lamb when information on the geographical origin, transport duration, and welfare condition was provided to the consumers.

Why don't consumers buy organic lamb meat? A Spanish case study.

The fall in lamb meat consumption makes it necessary to determine strategies to increase its consumption and the viability of livestock farms. Given this scenario, organic lamb meat emerges as a product with major growth potential. Using crisp-set qualitative comparative analysis (csQCA), this study analyses the profile of lamb meat consumers who decide against consuming organic lamb meat, identifying the main reasons they give for this decision. The findings reveal two majority segments of non-consumers of organic lamb meat, corresponding to 44.2% and 32.8% of conventional lamb meat consumers. In these segments, the main reasons given for non-consumption of lamb meat are, in the following order, supply, higher price and the lack of guarantees that the meat is actually organic. Thus, increasing organic lamb meat consumption necessarily involves greater efforts in the supply chain and greater promotion of information about the controls that guarantee the quality of certified organic lamb.

Impacts of external shocks on the decisions of hog supply chains under liquidity constraints from the perspective of commercial credit.

Certain attributes of the hog industry increase the production risk in nodal enterprises of the hog supply chain, leading to high financing costs and eventually resulting in liquidity constraints. When the hog supply chain node enterprises are subjected to external shocks, on the basis of the commercial credit relationship in the supply chain, the entire supply chain generates liquidity risks and systemic risks. We analyze the input and output of the hog supply chain node enterprises under the constraint of liquidity, construct the mathematical model, discuss the dynamic differences of liquidity constraints in different situations, and measures the commercial credit risk and anti-risk ability of the pig supply chain node enterprises. If the external shock is less than a certain value, the current profits of the hog enterprise can entirely make up for the loss caused by external shocks, and the production of the firm will return to its state of equilibrium. If the external shock is large enough, liquidity constraints will seriously restrict the production input of the enterprise, which then leads to a deceleration of production input and may ultimately result in bankruptcy. We believe that the structure of the hog industry supply chain should be constantly adjusted to optimize the industrial upgrading and organizational form of the hog supply chain.

Occurrence of Escherichia coli O157:H7 in cattle feces and contamination of carcass and various contact surfaces in abattoir and butcher shops of Hawassa, Ethiopia.

BACKGROUND: Despite of the sanitation measures in municipal abattoirs to reduce contamination, Escherichia coli continues to be a health hazard. The present study was conducted on 150 apparently healthy slaughtered cattle at municipal abattoir and in 50 different butcher shops in Hawassa town, Ethiopia. The objectives of the study were investigating the occurrence and antimicrobial resistance of E. coli O157:H7 isolated from fecal samples, carcasses swab, contacts surfaces (swabs of meat handlers hands, knife and clothes of meat transporters) as well as from butcher shops (meat samples, swabs from cutting board swab, butcher men hand and knife surface). E. coli O157:H7 was isolated and identified using bacteriological culture, biochemical tests and Biolog identification system. All E. coli O157:H7 isolates were then checked for their antimicrobial susceptibility pattern using eleven selected antimicrobial discs. RESULTS: Of the entire set of 630 samples, 2.4% (15/630) (95% CI = 1.3-3.9%) were positive for E. coli O157:H7. When disaggregated by the sources of the samples, E. coli O157:H7 were prevalent in 2.8% (11 of 390) of the abattoir samples, of which 4.7% of the fecal sample and 2.7% of the carcass swabs. And E. coli O157:H7 were positive in 1.7% (4 of 240) of butcher shop specimens of which 2% of meat sample and 3.3% of Cutting board swabs. No statistically significant difference in the prevalence of E. coli 0157: H7 between sex, origin, and breed of cattle. The isolated E. coli O157:H7 were found to be100% susceptible to cefotaxime, ceftriaxone, gentamycin, kanamycin and nalidixic acid. CONCLUSION: This study concludes the occurrence of E. coli O157:H7 and the presence of multiple antibiotic resistance profiles in cattle slaughtered at Hawassa municipal abattoir and retail meat sold at butcher shops. This indicates high risk to public health especially in Ethiopia where many people consume raw or under cooked meat. Regulatory control of antibiotics usage in livestock production and pharmaco-epidemiological surveillance in food animals and animal products is hereby recommended to ensure consumer safety.

Challenges for beef production in smallholder communities with low reproductive management skills: a case study from Northern Lao PDR.

Improved large ruminant productivity is increasingly acknowledged as a pathway for the alleviation of rural poverty and food insecurity in smallholder communities in Southeast Asia; yet, in much of Laos, bovine reproductive management is practically absent. Large ruminant reproduction skills were studied, using face-to-face surveys (n=60) of the knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) of farmers, plus an extension of an examination of parameters of reproductive efficiency (n = 1786 cattle and 434 buffalo) in the northern provinces of Luang Prabang and Xieng Khouang. The surveys particularly involved female farmers to provide gender-disaggregated data, with females making up 38.3 % of participants. Results confirmed that KAPs of smallholder farmers on bovine reproductive management were low (34-46 %) with trends toward higher KAP scores in male survey respondents. Poor reproductive parameters were identified in both provinces, with low calving percentages of 54-75 and 45-54 % in cattle and buffalo groups, respectively, and prolonged inter-calving intervals of 14.1-19.8 and 26.0 months for the cattle and buffalo groups, respectively. Improving the reproductive efficiency of large ruminants in the northern upland regions would enable smallholder farmers to be more effectively engaged in the dramatic economic growth of the Southeast Asia region, although these findings indicate that intensive training and supportive interventions are required to improve large ruminant reproductive outcomes in communities that have low-level large ruminant husbandry skills.