Journal of Integrative Agriculture2013, 12(11): 1916-1918 November 2013

© 2013, CAAS. All rights reserved. Published by Elsevier Ltd. doi: 10.1016/S2095-3119(13)60642-5

Editoral

MEAT AND MEAT PRODUCTS

In recent years, meat quality has assumed a greater consumer signifi cance and public attention. There is growing awareness of the link between diet and health and this is refl ected in the demand for more informa-tion and products which are healthy and of consistent-ly high quality. As a consequence, this fact has led to the demand for meat with a high lean content. On the other hand, as animals, and especially pigs and poultry, have become leaner, more complaints have been re-ceived that the eating quality of the meat has declined, due to dryness, toughness and lack of taste and fl avour. Other concerns are about food safety and hygiene, es-pecially the presence of microorganisms and residues, as well as the welfare and husbandry conditions under which animals are kept. Thus, both the diets fed to the animals and the systems of animal production are be-ing increasingly questioned.

The quality of raw meat can be defi ned as the suit-ability of meat for use in a specifi ed product. The at-tributes of meat that determine the quality thus depend on the use for which the meat is intended. Quality can be defined as technological quality, describing meat for further processing like salting, curing, etc., or as fresh meat eating quality that describes meat for fresh meat consumption, and which includes all traits registered with our senses, both appearance, flavour and texture.

In the processing of meat, the yield is the main quality parameter as it determines the amount of avail-able product for sale and is therefore of direct econom-ic importance. The sensory quality of the processed product has an indirect economic importance as it might infl uence the amount of sold product, especially how often a consumer buys the same product again. Quality indicators in the raw meat that can predict the yield of the processed meat are especially pH and wa-ter-holding capacity, whereas the sensory quality of the processed meat can also be infl uenced by the colour, the lean/fat distribution and the fat quality in the raw meat.

The future demands on raw meat quality refl ect the use of the meat. Two key words exist: ‘uniformity’

and ‘variety’. A future trend is the demand for a large amount of meat with a uniform raw meat quality for further processing. This makes it important that the raw meat quality can be predicted or determined early - if possible before the chilling begins. Another future trend is the demand for a greater variety in smaller amounts especially for the fresh meat consumption market. To this regards, it is important that the raw meat quality can be controlled in order to design a spe-cifi c quality.

As guest editor, I am pleased to see that 10 of the manuscripts were accepted by the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Integrative Agriculture for publication in this special focus. The 10 papers are organized into the following two sections.

Section 1: Animal welfare and meat quality

In recent years, increasing amount of evidence sup-ports the idea that acute animal stress can play an im-portant role in meat quality development. It has been proposed that increased levels of stress hormones into the muscle could lead to several post mortem metabol-ic/structural modifications that could be reflected on the fi nal quality of meat. To this regards, Pighin et al. (2013) demonstrated that stress hormones injected to live animals during the peri mortem period were able to affect the post mortem muscle biochemistry and the pH/T decline curve independently of fi nal muscle pH. These fi ndings support the idea that increased levels of stress hormones previous to slaughter would be more important than previously thought. On the other hand, the use of phytoadditives or active plant components, such as tannins, in rabbit husbandry can be an accept-able way to improve welfare, health and meat quality of animals. To this regard, Rotolo et al. (2013) con-cluded that oregano and sage in form of dried leaves can be used in rabbit rearing without reporting adverse effects on performance, carcass characteristics and meat quality traits

Regarding meat quality, Campo et al. (2013) no-ticed that lamb meat quality could be related with tech-

© 2013, CAAS. All rights reserved. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

nological aspects, chemical composition and consumer acceptability. To this regards, lamb meat provides excellent nutritional value, low-fat and high protein content (Paseto Fernandes et al. 2013). In addition, the vacuum packaged lamb stored under freezing, re-mained stable at least 12 mon stored at -18°C with re-spect to most physical and chemical indices evaluated and within the microbiological standards established by Brazilian legislation throughout the storage period. On the other hand, Díaz et al. (2013) displayed that fi nishing diet did not affect to chemical composition, pH, water holding capacity, drip and cooking losses and texture of meat from capons. Finally, Teixeira et al. (2013) observed differences between local breed (Portuguese black pork called Preto Alentejano) and a commercial breed, since fatty acid composition, par-ticularly the monosaturated (C18:1 and C16:1) could be important variables to discriminate pork meat from Preto Alentejano breed from the other commercial pork meats and used in authentication meat products analysis.

Section 2: Meat products

The oxidative deterioration of lipids and proteins is a major concern for food technologists due to the loss of the quality and shelf-life in the processed meat prod-ucts. Lipid oxidation affects the nutritional and senso-ry properties of muscle foods since it involves the loss of essential fatty acids and vitamins, the generation of toxic compounds such as the malondialdehyde, and the deterioration of fl avour, texture and color. Thus, the combination of fruit extracts together with the ad-ditives typically employed in the meat industry (sodium ascorbate and sodium nitrite) is a successful strategy to enhance the oxidative stability of frankfurters without modifying their color and texture properties (Armen-teros et al. 2013). In addition, Ganhão et al. (2013) observed that the addition of Arbutus unedo, Cratae-gus monogyna, Rosa canina and Rubus ulmifolius in porcine burger patties protects PUFA from oxidative degradation and inhibits the formation of TBA-RS and volatiles compounds. Hence, using these fruit extracts as ingredients in burger patties may be an efficient strategy to enhance the nutritional value, safety and sensory traits of these meat products.

Proteolysis and lipolysis are two of the most impor-tant mechanisms that have an impact on fi nal sensory quality of dry-cured meat products. To this regards, lipolysis plays an important role in the development of sensory characteristics, because it causes an increase in free fatty acid content, and it also catalyses other reactions such as oxidation, which leads to the produc-tion of a large number of volatile compounds that are responsible for the characteristic fl avour of dry-cured meat products. Wang et al. (2013) found that salting process showed a remarkable infl uence on IMF frac-tions, composition, lipid oxidation and lipase activity of dry-cured ham. Among the factors affecting the volatile compounds profi le, Lorenzo et al. (2013) ob-served that the inclusion of chestnut in the fi nal stage of fattening changed the volatile compounds profi le of hams from Celta pig breed. To this regards, the use of chestnut in the fi nishing diet of pigs led to ham sam-ples with a higher content of alcohols.

José M LorenzoGuest Editor

Centro Tecnológico de la Carne de Galicia32900 Ourense, Spain

ReferencesArmenteros M, Morcuende D, Ventanas S, Estévez M. 2013.

Application of natural antioxidants from strawberry tree (Arbutus unedo L.) and dog rose (Rosa canina L.) to frankfurters subjected to refrigerated storage. Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 12, 1972-1981.

Díaz O, Rodríguez L, Torres A, Cobos A. 2013. Composition and physico-chemical properties of meat from capons fed cereals. Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 12, 1953-1960.

Ganhão R, Estévez M, Armenteros M, Morcuende D. Mediterranean berries as inhibitors of lipid oxidation in porcine burger patties subjected to cooking and chilled storage. Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 12, 1982-1992.

Lorenzo J M, Carballo J, Franco D. 2013. Effect of the inclusion of chestnut in the finishing diet on volatile compounds of dry-cured ham from Celta pig breed. Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 12, 2002-2012.

Paseto Fernandes R P, Alvarenga Freire M T, da Costa Carrer C, Trindade M A. 2013. Evaluation of physicochemical, microbiological and sensory stability of frozen stored vacuum-packed lamb meat. Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 12, 1946-1952.

Pighin D G, Cunzolo S A, Zimerman M, Pazos A A, Domingo

© 2013, CAAS. All rights reserved. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

E, Pordomingo A J, Grigioni G. 2013. Impact of induced acute stress on meat quality development. Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 12, 1931-1936.

Rotolo L, Gai F, Nicola S, Zoccarato I, Brugiapaglia A, Gasco L. 2013. Dietary supplementation of oregano and sage dried leaves on performances and meat quality of rabbits. Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 12, 1937-1945.

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Teixeira A, Rodrigues S. 2013. Pork meat quality of Preto Alentejano and commercial Large White landrace cross. Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 12, 1961-1971.

Wang Z Y, Gao X G, Zhang J H, Zhang D Q, Ma C W. 2013. Changes of intramuscular fat composition, lipid oxidation and lipase activity in biceps femoris and semimembranosus of Xuanwei ham during controlled salting stages. Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 12, 1993-2001.