Review: Quality and authentication of organic animal products in Europe

Markers for meat provenance and authenticity with an account of its defining factors and quality characteristics - a review

Provenance is becoming increasingly important in meat supply chains as it lends products higher perceived quality. However, its precise definition and interpretation along with its associated characteristics factors have remained somewhat elusive. This review meticulously defines meat provenance while dissecting the essential factors and associated quality attributes that constitute its essence and are subsequently employed to establish pertinent markers for provenance. Meat provenance emerges as a multi-dimensional construct stemming from the adept management of a constellation of factors relating to geographical origin, farm production system, traceability, and authenticity. Through intricate interactions, these factors unveil innate originality that not only forges a distinct reputation but also imparts a unique typicity to the meat product. Gaining insights into a meat product's provenance becomes attainable by scrutinizing its pertinent composition and organoleptic quality traits. Trace elements and stable isotopes stand out as provenance markers, forging a direct connection to both geographical origin and dietary sources. While somewhat less direct in linkage, other markers such as plant biomarkers, fatty acid composition, pH levels, flavour and aromatic compounds along with organoleptic characteristics contribute to the overall understanding of provenance. Additionally, the identification of animal species and breeds serves as key markers, particularly in the context of protected geographical indications. The study findings are useful for the various stakeholders of how the information for meat provenance can be linked with intrinsic and extrinsic factors for meat quality and protecting the integrity of the supply chain with special reference to traceability and authenticity. © 2024 The Authors. Journal of The Science of Food and Agriculture published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry.

The color of fresh pork: Consumers expectations, underlying farm-to-fork factors, myoglobin chemistry and contribution of proteomics to decipher the biochemical mechanisms

The color of fresh pork is a crucial quality attribute that significantly influences consumer perception and purchase decisions. This review first explores consumer expectations and discrimination regarding pork color, as well as an overview of the underlying factors that, from farm-to-fork, contribute to its variation. Understanding the husbandry factors, peri- and post-mortem factors and consumer preferences is essential for the pork industry to meet market demands effectively. This review then delves into current knowledge of pork myoglobin chemistry, its modifications and pork discoloration. Pork myoglobin, which has certain peculiarities comparted to other meat species, plays a weak role in determining pork color, and a thorough understanding of the biochemical changes it undergoes is crucial to understand and improve color stability. Furthermore, the growing role of proteomics as a high-throughput approach and its application as a powerful research tool in meat research, mainly to decipher the biochemical mechanisms involved in pork color determination and identify protein biomarkers, are highlighted. Based on an integrative muscle biology approach, the available proteomics studies on pork color have enabled us to provide the first repertoire of pork color biomarkers, to shortlist and propose a list of proteins for evaluation, and to provide valuable insights into the interconnected biochemical processes implicated in pork color determination. By highlighting the contributions of proteomics in elucidating the biochemical mechanisms underlying pork color determination, the knowledge gained hold significant potential for the pork industry to effectively meet market demands, enhance product quality, and ensure consistent and appealing pork color.

Ameliorative avian gut environment and bird productivity through the application of safe antibiotics alternatives: a comprehensive review

The avian digestive tract is an important system for converting ingested food into the nutrients their bodies need for maintenance, growth, and reproduction (meat, table eggs, and fertile eggs). Therefore, preserving digestive system integrity is crucial to bird health and productivity. As an alternative to antibiotics, the world has recently turned to the use of natural products to enhance avian development, intestinal health, and production. Therefore, the primary goal of this review is to explain the various characteristics of the avian digestive tract and how to enhance its performance with natural, safe feed additives such as exogenous enzymes, organic acids, photogenic products, amino acids, prebiotics, probiotics, synbiotics, and herbal extracts. In conclusion, the composition of the gut microbiome can be influenced by a number of circumstances, and this has important consequences for the health and productivity of birds. To better understand the connection between pathogens, the variety of therapies available, and the microbiome of the gut, additional research needs to be carried out.

Nutritional Description of Organic and Conventional Food Products in Spain: The BADALI Project

Organic food and drink is undoubtedly a growing market. Consumers perceive organic food as healthy, and nutrition claims (NCs) and fortification may add to this perception. Whether this is true is still a matter of controversy, particularly for organic food products. We present here the first comprehensive study of large samples of six specific organic food types, analysing the nutritional quality (nutrient composition and "healthiness") as well as the use of NCs and fortification. In parallel, a comparison with conventional food is also carried out. For this purpose, the Food Database of products in the Spanish market, BADALI, was used. Four cereal-based and two dairy-substitute food types were analysed. Our results show that as many as 81% of organic foods are considered "less healthy" by the Pan American Health Organization Nutrient Profile Model (PAHO-NPM). Organic foods present a slightly improved nutrient profile compared to conventional foods. However, many of the differences, though statistically significant, are nutritionally irrelevant. Organic foods use NCs very frequently, more than conventional foods, with very little micronutrient fortification. The main conclusion of this work is that consumers' perception that organic food products are healthy is unfounded from a nutritional point of view.

Residues of pesticides and veterinary drugs in diets of dairy cattle from conventional and organic farms in Austria

Modern agriculture depends highly on pesticides and pharmaceutical preparations, so controlling exposure to these substances in the feed and food chain is essential. This article presents the first study on residues of a broad spectrum of pesticides and veterinary drugs in the diets of dairy cattle. One hundred and two representative samples of the complete diets, including basal feed rations and additional fed concentrate, were collected in three Austrian provinces (Styria, Lower and Upper Austria) in 2019 and 2020. The samples were tested for >700 pesticides, veterinary drugs and related metabolites using a validated method based on liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization-tandem mass spectrometry (LC/ESI-MS/MS). In total, 16 residues (13 pesticides and three veterinary drug residues) were detected. > 90% of the diets contained pesticide residues and <10% veterinary drug residues, whereas banned pesticides were not found. The most frequent pesticide residues were fluopyram (62%), piperonyl butoxide (39%) and diethyltoluamide (35%). The following pesticides exceed the default EU maximum residue level (MRL) (10 μg kg^-1) for products exclusively used for animal feed production: Benzovindiflupyr (proportion of samples > MRLs: 1%), bixafen (2%), fluopyram (6%), ipconazole (1%) and tebuconazole (3%). Three residues (dinitrocarbanilide, monensin and nicarbazin) of veterinary drugs were identified, all below the MRLs. Over 60% of the evaluated samples contained mixtures of two to six residues/sample. Only one pesticide (diethyltoluamide) presented a significant difference among regions, with higher concentrations in Upper Austria. Brewery's spent grains were the dietary ingredient that showed the strongest correlation to pesticide residues. These findings evidence the realistic scenario of highly occurrent low doses of pesticides cocktails in the feed/food chain, which may affect the animal, human and environmental health. Since the risk assessments are based on single pesticides, the potential synergistic effect of co-occurring chemicals ("cocktail effect") requires further investigations.

Consumer Perception of Beef Quality and How to Control, Improve and Predict It? Focus on Eating Quality

Quality refers to the characteristics of products that meet the demands and expectations of the end users. Beef quality is a convergence between product characteristics on one hand and consumers’ experiences and demands on the other. This paper reviews the formation of consumer beef quality perception, the main factors determining beef sensory quality, and how to measure and predict beef eating quality at scientific and industrial levels. Beef quality is of paramount importance to consumers since consumer perception of quality determines the decision to purchase and repeat the purchase. Consumer perception of beef quality undergoes a multi-step process at the time of purchase and consumption in order to achieve an overall value assessment. Beef quality perception is determined by a set of quality attributes, including intrinsic (appearance, safety, technological, sensory and nutritional characteristics, convenience) and extrinsic (price, image, livestock farming systems, commercial strategy, etc.) quality traits. The beef eating qualities that are the most valued by consumers are highly variable and depend mainly on the composition and characteristics of the original muscle and the post-mortem processes involved in the conversion of muscle into meat, the mechanisms of which are summarized in this review. Furthermore, in order to guarantee good quality beef for consumers in advance, the prediction of beef quality by combining different traits in scenarios where the animal, carcass, and muscle cuts can be evaluated is also discussed in the current review.

Review: Pork quality attributes from farm to fork. Part I. Carcass and fresh meat

This work considers all factors along the production chain from farm to fork influencing the quality of fresh pork and processed products. Pork quality is multidimensional and comprises various attributes: commercial value of carcasses, meat organoleptic, nutritional, technological (i.e. suitability for processing and storage) properties, convenience, and societal image. The latter denotes cultural, ethical (including animal welfare) and environmental dimensions related to pork production, including geographical origin, all of which influence societal perceptions for pork. This review covers the impact of production factors, slaughter methods, carcass processing, and post mortem ageing on fresh meat quality. The impact on pork quality from some of these factors are now well documented and clearly established (e.g. genetics and pork technological attributes; diet and lipid profile; preslaughter and slaughter conditions and pork technological or organoleptic attributes…). Gaps in scientific knowledge are also identified, including the need for a better understanding of regulatory pathways for oxidative stress in vivo and post mortem that can contribute to optimise pork organoleptic and nutritional attributes and its suitability for processing and storage. This review highlights the strong interactions between primary production factors on pork quality attributes. Interactions are particularly marked in alternative production systems, in which synergies between factors can lead to specific quality characteristics that can be used to market pork at a premium as branded products. There are also antagonisms between quality attributes, namely between carcass commercial value and pork technological and organoleptic properties, between nutritional attributes and processing and storage suitability of fat tissues, between societal image and pork technological attributes in outdoor production systems, and between societal image (better welfare) and organoleptic attributes (risk for boar taint) in entire male production. Further research is needed to better understand the effects of some specific production factors and their interactions on quality attributes. A holistic approach with the use of multicriteria analyses can help to work out the trade-offs between pork quality attributes and between stakeholders (farmer, slaughterhouse or processing plant, consumers, citizens …) whose priorities may differ.