Effect of incorporation of soy protein isolate and inulin on quality characteristics and shelf-life of low-fat duck meat sausages.

OBJECTIVE: Low fat duck meat sausages were prepared by replacing the fat in the formulations with soy protein isolate (SPI) and inulin to find the best formulation having superior shelflife without affecting its quality attributes. METHODS: Four sausage mix formulations were prepared viz.control (0% SPI and inulin), T1 (2.5% inulin), T2 (2.5% SPI), and T3 (2.5% SPI+2.5% inulin) replacing duck fat as per the recipe. Five batches of duck meat sausages of each formulation were prepared, and the final products were evaluated for physico-chemical, organoleptic, and microbiological qualities. RESULTS: The % moisture and crude protein content of the sausages revealed an increasing trend (p<0.01) from control to the treated formulations, while the % total ash contents were found to be non-significant (p>0.05). On the contrary, the per cent ether extract decreased significantly (p<0.01) from the control to the treated groups. In terms of calorie value, control samples exhibited the highest values with a significant (p<0.01) regression from control to treated formulation, respectively. The colour profile study (L, a*, b*) of the formulations were found to be non-significant. Texture profile study in terms of springiness, cohesiveness, chewiness, and resilience revealed no significant difference in all the treatment groups except the hardness scores, which revealed a significantly (p<0.01) increasing trend from control to the treated formulations. The total viable count showed a significant decrease in the treated groups. However, there was a significant increase in the bacterial load during the storage till day 15th. The total viable psychrophilic bacterial count showed a significant (p<0.01) increase in bacterial load from day 5th to 15th day of storage. Colititre counts were negative for all the formulations until the 15th day of storage. CONCLUSION: The present study results may conclude that duck meat sausages could be prepared satisfactorily by replacing duck fat with SPI and inulin at the rate of 2.5% of each with superior quality attributes.

Pesticide Residues in Peri-Urban Bovine Milk from India and Risk Assessment: A Multicenter Study.

Pesticides residue poses serious concerns to human health. The present study was carried out to determine the pesticide residues of peri-urban bovine milk (n = 1183) from five different sites (Bangalore, Bhubaneswar, Guwahati, Ludhiana and Udaipur) in India and dietary exposure risk assessment to adults and children. Pesticide residues were estimated using gas chromatography with flame thermionic and electron capture detectors followed by confirmation on gas chromatography-mass spectrometer. The results noticed the contamination of milk with hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH), dichloro-diphenyl trichloroethane (DDT), endosulfan, cypermethrin, cyhalothrin, permethrin, chlorpyrifos, ethion and profenophos pesticides. The residue levels in some of the milk samples were observed to be higher than the respective maximum residue limits (MRLs) for pesticide. Milk samples contamination was found highest in Bhubaneswar (11.2%) followed by Bangalore (9.3%), Ludhiana (6.9%), Udaipur (6.4%) and Guwahati (6.3%). The dietary risk assessment of pesticides under two scenarios i.e. lower-bound scenario (LB) and upper-bound (UB) revealed that daily intake of pesticides was substantially below the prescribed acceptable daily intake except for fipronil in children at UB. The non-cancer risk by estimation of hazard index (HI) was found to be below the target value of one in adults at all five sites in India. However, for children at the UB level, the HI for lindane, DDT and ethion exceeded the value of one in Ludhiana and Udaipur. Cancer risk for adults was found to be in the recommended range of United States environment protection agency (USEPA), while it exceeded the USEPA values for children.

Virulence gene profiling of porcine Pasteurella multocida isolates of Assam.

AIM: The present study was conducted to detect and identify the virulence genes in Pasteurella multocida isolates of porcine origin from Assam. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 21 porcine P. multocida isolates were subjected to capsular typing and detection of virulence-associated genes (pfhA, tbpA, hgbB, toxA, oma87, ompH, and nanB) using various polymerase chain reaction (PCR) methods reported elsewhere. Further, pathogenicity of the porcine isolates of P. multocida was studied in mice. For each strain of P. multocida selected for pathogenicity trial, the group of mice was injected intraperitoneally (i/p) with 0.1 ml of the inoculum prepared from respective field isolates, containing 109 organisms per ml. RESULTS: Capsular typing of the isolates by multiplex PCR showed two capsular types, type A (66.66%) and type D (33.33%). All the isolates were positive for outer membrane protein genes, oma87 and ompH genes. Iron acquisition genes, tbpA and hgbB, were detected in 14.28% and 19.04% of the isolates. The dermonecrotoxin encoding gene, toxA, was present in 23.80% of the isolates. Filamentous hemagglutinin encoding gene, pfhA, was detected in 28.57%. The virulence gene distribution pattern of the isolates indicates the important role of the genes in disease pathogenesis. CONCLUSION: From the present study, it can be concluded that toxA gene is an important marker gene for defining the pathogenic potential of P. multocida strains in swine.

Effect of starter cultures and packaging methods on amino acid profile and eating quality characteristics of pork ham.

Wet cured pork hams were inoculated with a mixed starter cultures comprising of Lactobacillus acidophilus and Micrococcus varians M483 at the dose level of 106 cfu/g and the un inoculated hams served as controls. The amino acid profile of hams of the treated and the control groups stored at 4oC under MAP and VP and evaluated on 60th day of storage revealed that treated hams liberated higher concentration of free amino acids except for proline and methionine which were found in higher concentration (P < 0.01) in the MAP control samples. The MAP control samples liberated glutamic acid (85.65 ± 1.40 ppm), cystine (21.56 ± 1.14 ppm) and tyrosine (16.63 ± 1.94 ppm) whereas, the treated samples did not release these amino acids. The VP control samples too liberated cystine (6.98 ± 1.36 ppm) and arginine (42.70 ± 2.78 ppm) but the treated ham of the VP did not liberate these amino acids. The VP hams had higher concentration (P < 0.01) of free proline, glycine, alanine, valine, methionine, isoleucine, phenylalanine, lysine and histidine than the MAP samples. Colour analysis of ham using CIE Lab colour system revealed that the treated samples had significantly higher concentrations of L*, a* and b* components. The L* and a* values were higher in the MAP than under VP systems while the b* values were higher in the VP samples than the MAP samples. Neither the bacterial cultures nor the packaging system influenced the textural property of ham. Starter cultures inoculated hams were rated superior (P < 0.05) in terms of their sensory properties. Hams packaged under MAP were rated superior (P < 0.05) than those packaged under VP in terms of appearance, colour, taste, tenderness, flavour, juiciness and overall acceptability.

Effect of incorporation of fermented bamboo shoot on physicochemical and microbial quality of pork pickle.

Replacement of commercial chemical preservative (Vinegar) by incorporating fermented bamboo shoot (FBS) products partially or completely and their effect on physicochemical, microbial and shelf life qualities on pork pickle products was studied. Different FBS products such as FBS extract, paste and powder were incorporated in the pork pickle products at the level of 50 to 100 % with or without vinegar and stored at room temperature for 90 days. Highest pH values and lowest titrable acidity was recorded in products with 50 and 100 % FBS powder. No significant differences were observed with respect to proximate composition i.e. percent moisture, protein, fat and ash contents among the products except the product with 100 % FBS powder which had significantly (p < 0.01) lower moisture content. Microbial load (Log total plate counts) and thiobarbituric acid (TBA) values were found to be increasing as the storage periods were advancing. Except the product with 100 % FBS powder which could be stored for 30 days only, other products could be stored upto 90 days without any physicochemical and microbial problems. It can be concluded from this study that natural and organic FBS extract and paste can be used successfully replacing the conventional chemical preservative (Vinegar) for preparation of pork pickle products and preserved more than 90 days at room temperature. However, FBS powder can be used for preservation of the pickle products for a short period (30 days).

Verotoxic Escherichia coli (STEC) from beef and its products.

In the present investigation, out of 27 (24.10%) strains of Escherichia coli isolated from 112 beef samples comprising raw meat (45), kabab (36) and kofta (31), 9 (33.33%) belonging to 7 different serotypes were verotoxic as tested by vero cell cytotoxic assay. Serotype O145 was the predominant STEC in raw meat. Interestingly, one STEC-O157 strain was also detected. All the STEC strains were positive for Stx genes by polymerase chain reaction showing stx2 (77.78%) to be most predominant followed by stx1 (22.22%). Phenotypic enterohaemolysin production on washed sheep blood agar supplemented with CaCl2 revealed 6 (66.67%) STEC strains to be positive. Presence of STEC in cooked beef products, viz., kabab and kofta appeared to be a matter of concern and potential threat to public health.

Cutaneous infection associated with Staphylococcus hyicus in cattle.

Forty-seven Staphylococcus hyicus strains, one each from 47 of 81 cattle examined, were isolated from cutaneous lesions on different parts of the body. Nineteen of the strains were isolated in pure culture and the rest were isolated in association with either other staphylococci or microfilariae or mange mites. Three out of 10 representative strains produced cutaneous lesions when inoculated intradermally into rabbits.