• Animal Bioscience
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• v.36 no.8
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• pp.1274-1284
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• 2023

Objective: Understanding consumer perception of meat quality in developing countries is an important issue since consumer perception of quality could be highly variable. In the current study, consumers' purchasing preferences affected by marbling and perception of quality were evaluated in a survey study. Furthermore, consumers' preferences for degree of doneness were investigated using both survey and consumer panel studies. Methods: The study was carried out in two phases. Firstly, a survey was conducted in Adana Province, Turkey to collect data related to the attributes affecting consumers' meat purchase decision and consumers' degree of doneness preferences. In the second phase, boneless ribeye was used to investigate consumers' degree of doneness preferences in a consumer panel. In addition, proximate analyses of the samples were conducted. Results: The survey study using pictures of marbling illustrations indicated that higher degrees of marbling might be considered too fatty to be purchased by consumers. Consumers' perceptions regarding the relationship between marbling and beef quality further indicated that marbling might not be acknowledged as a cue of a higher quality meat. Nevertheless, the results of the importance of some attributes related to intrinsic and extrinsic quality cues showed that consumers were looking for the cues that indicated not only quality but also safety of the meat during meat purchase. The results of both survey and consumer panel studies revealed that consumers might prefer higher degrees of doneness while consuming meat since a majority of the consumers' preference of degree of doneness was at least well done. Conclusion: This study revealed that consumer purchasing preferences might vary between countries regarding marbling and perception of quality. Furthermore, higher degrees of doneness could be the preference of these consumers. Thus, further studies are needed to increase consumer satisfaction in these countries.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.33 no.8
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• pp.1332-1338
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• 2020

Objective: Meat quality characteristics and sensory attributes were evaluated in three age groups (12, 18, and 24 mo) of one-humped camels of the Saudi Arabian Najdi breed. Methods: Thirty-six male camels (12 for each age group) were used. The Longissimus dorsi muscle from each carcass was divided into three parts and subjected to three ageing periods (1, 5, or 10 d) and evaluated for shear force, myofibril fragmentation index (MFI), expressed juice, cooking loss, and sensory attributes. Results: Age had a significant effect on shear force, MFI, expressed juice quantity, and organoleptic properties. Camels slaughtered at 12 mo exhibited lower shear force and MFI, and higher expressed juice quantity, tenderness, juiciness, and overall acceptability than those slaughtered at 24 mo. Ageing had a significant influence on shear force, MFI, expressed juice quantity, but not on cooking loss. Camel meat aged for 10 d exhibited significantly lower shear force values and expressed juice quantity, and significantly higher MFI compared to that aged for 1 d. However, ageing did not significantly affect sensory attributes, except for tenderness, in camels slaughtered at 18 mo. Conclusion: Both instrumental and sensory evaluations showed that young camel meat has desirable quality characteristics, with superior tenderness and juiciness.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.58-65
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• 2018

Meat quality includes technological quality attributes, consumer acceptance, and credence characteristics. In terms of credence characteristics, animal welfare is one of the most interesting topics to both consumers and the livestock industry. Consumers prefer meat produced from livestock that has been raised in low stress and ecofriendly environments. The livestock industry cares about animal welfare to meet the requirements of consumers. Animal welfare is closely associated with the stress and physiological response of livestock to stress. Moreover, stress just before slaughter (i.e., pre-slaughter stress) has negative effects on not only animal welfare but also ultimately on meat quality. It is well-documented that pre-slaughter stress can influence ante- and post-mortem biological changes of the muscles, especially their metabolic properties and metabolites. The metabolic properties and metabolites contents also can modulate the postmortem changes of the muscles. Conversion of muscles to meat during postmortem is a very important process because it determines ultimately the meat quality. Thus, understanding pre-slaughter stress and physiological responses to stress in farm animals is important for animal welfare and meat quality. The purpose of this paper was to examine the concept of stress, physiological responses to stress, measurement of stress, and the relationships between stress indices and meat quality traits.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.66 no.2
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• pp.387-397
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• 2024

Pork quality is determined by several attributes, among which odor and taste are the utmost significant. Therefore, this study was aimed to assess the effects of boar odor hormone concentration on the quality traits and sensory acceptability of pork. A total twenty-six (26) non-castrated 3-way crossbred (Landrace × Yorkshire × Duroc) pigs were selected with an average body weight (ABW) 115.6 kg before to slaughter. The three treatment groups (low, medium and high) were divided according to the androstenone concentration. In experiment 1, for meat quality traits carcass was selected based on androstenone concentration: low (LC, 0.64-0.69 ㎍/g, n = 9), medium (MC, 0.70-0.99 ㎍/g, n = 7) and high (HC, 1.00-1.69 ㎍/g, n = 10). In experiment 2, for sensory evaluation carcasses were also selected based on the abovementioned conditions. Results revealed that androstenone concentration not effect on proximate components, meat quality traits and fatty acids except palmitoleic acid. Sensory evaluation data showed that boar taint and meat boar taint were significantly increased in a concentration-dependent manner from low to high, whereas, gravy and meat flavor preference were significantly increased in LC group than HC group. In addition, correlation analysis showed that boar taint and meat boar taint were positively, and gravy and meat flavor preference were negatively correlated with boar taint hormones. In essence, our findings indicate that androstenone concentration had no effect on meat qualities, but a high concentration of androstenone had a negative effect on the sensory characteristics in uncastrated pigs.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.43 no.6
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• pp.1087-1110
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• 2023

The growing demand for sustainable food production and the rising consumer preference for fresh, healthy, and safe food products have been driving the need for innovative methods for processing and preserving food. In the meat industry, this demand has led to the development of new interventions aimed at extending the shelf life of meats and its products while maintaining their quality and nutritional value. Cold plasma has recently emerged as a subject of great interest in the meat industry due to its potential to enhance the microbiological safety of meat and its products. This review discusses the latest research on the possible application of cold plasma in the meat processing industry, considering its effects on various quality attributes and its potential for meat preservation and enhancement. In this regard, many studies have reported substantial antimicrobial efficacy of cold plasma technology in beef, pork, lamb and chicken, and their products with negligible changes in their physicochemical attributes. Further, the application of cold plasma in meat processing has shown promising results as a potential novel curing agent for cured meat products. Understanding the mechanisms of action and the interactions between cold plasma and food ingredients is crucial for further exploring the potential of this technology in the meat industry, ultimately leading to the development of safe and high-quality meat products using cold plasma technology.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.48 no.3
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• pp.455-464
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• 2021

This study was conducted to evaluate meat quality traits, proximate composition, fatty acid profile and sensory attributes of pork produced under free-range and semi-intensive pig rearing systems. Longissimus dorsi muscles from pork carcasses were taken just after the slaughtering of finishing pigs reared under semi-intensive and free-range systems to test the meat quality parameters (pH, color, water holding capacity, and cooking loss), proximate composition (moisture, protein, fat, and ash) and fatty acid profile. Furthermore, the organoleptic properties were evaluated using 30 untrained panelists. The results revealed that the system of rearing did not affect (p > 0.05) the proximate composition, water holding capacity, color, pH and cooking loss of pork along with the fatty acid composition except for vaccenic acid (p < 0.05). The monounsaturated fatty acid (MUFA) content was affected (p < 0.05) by the rearing system while no effects were observed on the unsaturated fatty acid: saturated fatty acid ratio and omega-six to omega-three fatty acids ratios (p > 0.05). No difference was observed (p > 0.05) concerning the sensory attributes although pork obtained from the free-range system had the highest scores. In conclusion, the system of rearing did not show a significant effect on the meat quality parameters, composition and sensory attributes of pork obtained from cross-bred pigs.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.197-208
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• 2019

The aim of this study was to investigate the relation of sensory quality traits of cooked beef to fresh meat quality and histochemical characteristics, especially muscle bundle traits, in the longissimus thoracis muscle of Hanwoo steers. Cooking loss negatively correlated with softness, initial tenderness, chewiness, rate of breakdown (RB), and amount of perceptible residue (AR) after chewing (p<0.05), and drip loss showed negative correlation with RB and AR (p<0.05). All the attributes of tenderness exhibited negative correlation with the Warner-Bratzler shear force value (p<0.05). Marbling score and the intramuscular fat (IMF) content showed positive correlation with all the organoleptic characteristics, including tenderness attributes, juiciness, and flavor (p<0.05). Regarding histochemical characteristics, muscle fiber size did not have a significant correlation with all the sensory quality traits, although the area percentage of type I fiber was related with softness, initial tenderness, and chewiness (p<0.05). On the contrary, the characteristics of muscle bundle were related to all the sensory tenderness attributes (p<0.05), and the sensory tenderness increased with smaller muscle bundle size (p<0.05). These results suggest that the IMF content and bundle characteristics can be used as indicators for explaining the variations in sensory tenderness in well-marbled beef.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.31 no.7
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• pp.1036-1042
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• 2018

Meat quality is a very difficult term to define because it means different things to different people. When purchasing beef, consumers in the United States are likely to consider color, price, marbling level, subcutaneous fat trim, or cut thickness when determining the quality of beef. Once consumers have consumed the product, meat quality becomes exponentially more difficult to define due to the subjective nature of this term. Traditionally, tenderness, juiciness, and flavor have been considered the three most important factors that determine the palatability of beef. Therefore, American meat science beef research and industry focus has turned to measuring and quantifying these 3 attributes objectively and subjectively, and to determining what influences them. In reviewing the scientific literature, attempting to meaningfully summarize the findings of the thousands of studies on beef meat quality is impossible due to the inherent differences in the objective and methodology of studies. Fortunately, the United States beef industry and their national trade association, the National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA), have conducted numerous surveys and audits to characterize the quality of the products being produced and marketed by their cattlemen and the palatability perceptions of their consumers. The data produced by these studies is quite large and impossible to summarize in entirety in this review. Therefore, this review concentrates on the most important attributes that determine the value of a beef carcass and objectively measured and consumer-assessed palatability characteristics of fresh meat from these carcasses from 1987 through 2010.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.655-671
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• 2022

There are differences of spectral characteristics between different types of meat cut, which means the model established using only one type of meat cut for meat quality prediction is not suitable for other meat cut types. A novel portable visible and near-infrared (Vis/NIR) optical system was used to simultaneously predict multiple quality indicators for different commercial meat cut types (silverside, back strap, oyster, fillet, thick flank, and tenderloin) from Small-tailed Han sheep. The correlation coefficients of the calibration set (R_c) and prediction set (R_p) of the optimal prediction models were 0.82 and 0.81 for pH, 0.88 and 0.84 for L^*, 0.83 and 0.78 for a^*, 0.83 and 0.82 for b^*, 0.94 and 0.86 for cooking loss, 0.90 and 0.88 for shear force, 0.84 and 0.83 for protein, 0.93 and 0.83 for fat, 0.92 and 0.87 for moisture contents, respectively. This study demonstrates that Vis/NIR spectroscopy is a promising tool to achieve the predictions of multiple quality parameters for different commercial meat cut types.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.564-568
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• 2004

Restructuring had made it possible to utilize lower value cuts and meat trimmings from spent animals by providing convenience in product preparation besides enhancing tenderness, palatability and value. Milk co-precipitates (MCP) have been reported to improve the nutritional and functional properties of certain meat products. This study was undertaken to evaluate the influence of incorporation of milk co-precipitates at four different levels viz. 0, 10, 15 and 20% on the quality of restructured buffalo meat blocks. Low-calcium milk co-precipitates were prepared from skim milk by heat and salt coagulation of milk proteins. Meat chunks were mixed with the curing ingredients and chilled water in a Hobart mixer for 5 minutes, followed by addition of milk co-precipitates along with condiments and spice mix and again mixed for 5 minutes. Treated chunks were stuffed in aluminium moulds and cooked in steam without pressure for 1.5 h. After cooking, treated meat blocks were compared for different physico-chemical and sensory attributes. Meat blocks incorporated with 10% MCP were significantly better (p<0.05) than those incorporated with 0, 15 and 20% MCP in cooking yield, percent shrinkage and moisture retention. Sensory scores were also marginally higher for meat blocks incorporated with 10% MCP than product incorporated with 15 and 20% MCP, besides being significantly higher than control. On the basis of above results 10% MCP was considered optimum for the preparation of restructured buffalo meat blocks. Instrumental texture profile analysis revealed that meat blocks incorporated with 10% MCP were significantly better (p<0.05) in hardness/ firmness than control although, no significant (p>0.05) differences were observed in cohesiveness, springiness, gumminess and chewiness of both type of samples.