Effect of meat chunk size, massaging time and cooking time on quality of restructured pork blocks.

In the present study, effect of meat chunk size (2-3 and 4-5 cm), massaging time (6, 8 and 10 min) and cooking time (40, 45 and 50 min) on quality of restructured pork blocks was evaluated. Higher product yield (89.31%) was obtained with chunk size of 2-3 cm compared to blocks prepared from chunk size of 4-5 cm (85.12%). PH and shear force values were comparable. Among sensory attributes appearance and overall palatability was significantly higher for product prepared from chunk size of 2-3 cm. Increase in massage time from 6 min to 10 min resulted in improvement in product yield and reduction in shear force value. All the sensory attributes improved with the increasing massaging time except the flavour, which remained constant. Ten minutes of massaging time was found optimum due to higher product yield, significantly better appearance, texture and overall palatability than 6 and 8 min of massaging. In cooking time, it was found that product yield and shear force values were inversely proportional to the cooking time. Sensory attributes were comparable. Cooking time of 50 min was found optimum in view of better sensory attributes of the product than 40 and 45 min of cooking. From the present study it can be concluded that Meat chunk size of 2-3 cm, massaging time of 10 min and cooking time of 50 min was found optimum for making restructured pork blocks in the view of better sensory attributes of the product.

Dietary supplementation of plant bioactive-enriched aniseed straw and eucalyptus leaves modulates tissue fatty acid profile and nuggets quality of lambs.

Utilization of low-input feed resources rich in plant bioactive compounds is a promising strategy for modulating the fatty acid profile in ruminant products. They manipulate microbes involved in rumen biohydrogenation and increase the accumulation of desirable fatty acids at the tissue level. Therefore, the present study was undertaken to assess the effect of dietary supplementation of aniseed straw and eucalyptus leaves on growth performance, carcass traits and fatty acid profile of finisher lambs. Thirty-six Malpura hogget were divided into three treatment groups of 12 each, reared individually in pen (1.6 m × 1.1 m) and fed ad libitum complete feed blocks made up of 55 parts concentrate, 5 parts molasses and 40 parts roughage. Roughage in control (Con) was 20 parts each of ardu (Ailanthus excelsa) leaves and oat (Avena sativa) straw. In test diets, that is, Con-as and Con-el, 10% aniseed (Pimpinella anisum) straw and Eucalyptus rudis leaves, respectively, were added by replacing 5% each of oat straw and eucalyptus leaves. The lambs were weighed weekly; and at the end of 3 months of feeding trial, the lambs were slaughtered to study the carcass traits, composition and product evaluation. Average daily gain (ADG) and DM intake (DMI) was higher (P < 0.05) in Con-as compared to Con and Con-el, while ADG and feed conversion ratio decreased (P < 0.05) by 29.4% and 36.4%, respectively, in Con-el compared to Con. Carcass traits showed lower (P < 0.05) loin eye area and chilling loss in the Con-el group compared to the Con-as and Con, and the total carcass fat compared to Con-as. However, the keeping quality of meat improved in both Con-as and Con-el which was reflected by lower (P < 0.05) thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances values. Nuggets prepared from Con and Con-as meat had superior (P < 0.05) sensory attributes with an overall palatability. Fatty acid profile of longissimus thoracis muscle showed lower (P < 0.05) atherogenic and thrombogenic indices in Con-as and higher (P < 0.05) in Con-el group. Moreover, in Con-as group, the proportion of C16:0 was lower (P < 0.05) and C18:3n-3 was higher (P < 0.05), but no effect was observed on the amount of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA; C18:2 c9t11). In case of adipose tissue, the content of CLA was higher (P < 0.05), and the ratio of n-6:n-3 was more nearer to desirable levels in Con-as group. Therefore, it can be concluded that aniseed straw is a promising feed supplement compared to eucalyptus leaves for improving meat quality and fatty acid profile in lambs.

Effect of full-fat soy paste and textured soy granules on quality and shelf-life of goat meat nuggets in frozen storage.

Goat meat nuggets were prepared using commercially available textured soy granules and reduced beany flavour full-fat soy paste (FFSP) made by simple processing technology to compare the performance of these proteins in a comminuted meat system. Addition of soy proteins (soy paste and soy granules) did not significantly affect the product yield, pH, moisture and fat percentage whereas protein content and water holding capacity (% expressible water) were significantly (p>0.05) lower in nuggets with 15% soy paste. Lower force was required to compress or shear the sample as hardness, springiness, gumminess and chewiness decreased in soy paste incorporated nuggets. Soy proteins either paste or granules, did not affect sensory attributes except flavour and overall acceptability. Nuggets with soy paste and control ones did not differ significantly for flavour and overall acceptability whereas nuggets with soy granules were rated significantly (p>0.05) lower. The nuggets remained stable with minor changes in physico-chemical, microbiological and sensory quality during frozen storage (-18±1°C) for 90days. It is concluded from this study that FFSP could be successfully incorporated in comminuted meat systems for producing quality products similar to commercially available soy granules.

Molecular detection of meat animal species targeting MT 12S rRNA gene.

The efficacy of PCR-RFLP analysis of mt 12S rRNA gene in identification of animal species from meat samples of known and unknown origin and adulterated meat samples was evaluated. In PCR, all the samples generated an amplicon of 456 bp. Restriction enzyme digestion of the PCR product with AluI, HhaI, BspTI and ApoI revealed characteristic RFLP patterns. Of the samples of unknown origin few were identified as cattle, few as buffalo and some were admixtures of two, suggesting adulteration. The RFLP pattern of one did not match any of species included in the study, which on sequencing was confirmed as camel meat. Application of this technique on adulterated meat samples could detect both animal species in proportion of 50:50 and 75:25 (except in case of goat+cattle). The technique however could not detect any of the two species when proportion of mixture was 90:10 (except in case of cattle+buffalo).