Charqui meats as fermented meat products: role of bacteria for some sensorial properties development

Jerked beef, a derivative of charqui meat, is a cured, salted and dried meat product. The presence of halotolerant bacteria, where Staphylococcus spp. (84.2%) were the predominant species, would act eventually as starter cultures and was followed throughout processing. Jerked beef prepared separately with exogenous S. carnosus and S. xylosus as starter cultures resulted in high proteolysis. Samples prepared with S. xylosus had the highest proteolysis and were preferred by the sensory panel. This research has suggested that jerked beef (and thus charqui meat) prepared under these conditions is a fermented meat product. (C) 2002 Elsevier B.V. Ltd. All rights reserved.

Detection of Listeria sp in meat and meat products using TECRA Listeria visual immunoassay and biocontrol visual immunoprecipitate assay for Listeria immunoassays and a cultural procedure

The routine methods for detecting Listeria sp. in foods are time consuming and involve using selective enrichments and plating on agars. In this study, the presence of Listeria sp. in 120 meat and meat product samples was investigated by two rapid immunoassays (TECRA Listeria Visual Immunoassay [VIA] and BioControl Visual Immunoprecipitate Assay [VIP] for Listeria) and a cultural procedure. The cultural method of detecting Listeria sp. followed Canada's Health Protection Branch Method, and the rapid tests followed the manufacturers' instructions. The agreement between the cultural and the rapid tests was established at a confidence limit of 95%. Seventy-nine samples (65.8%) were Listeria sp. positive in at least one of the three tests. There was no statistically significant difference between the cultural procedure and any of the rapid immunoassays. The agreement rates between the VIA and the cultural method and between the VIP and the cultural method were 87 and 84%, respectively. Both tests - the VIA and VIP - proved to be rapid, efficient and easy to perform.

Growth, carcass and meat quality traits of straightbred and crossbred Botucatu rabbits

The objective was to evaluate the effects of genetic group and age on growth, carcass, and meat traits of rabbits. A total of 144 straightbred Botucatu and White German Giant x Botucatu crossbred rabbits were involved. Rabbits were weaned at 35 d and sequentially, slaughtered, four per genetic group x sex combination, at: 42, 49, 56, 63, 70, 77, 84 and 91 d. A 2x2 factorial arrangement was employed in a completely randomized design with repeated measures for growth traits, and a split-plot for carcass and meat traits. Crossbred rabbits were heavier (2032 vs. 1962 g; P < 0.01), consumed more feed (143.5 vs. 131.0 g/d; P < 0.01), and presented higher slaughter weight (2169 vs. 2093 g, P=0.02) and dressing percentage (59.0 vs. 58.2%; P=0.07) than straightbreds throughout the experiment. No difference between genetic groups was detected for feed conversion and empty gastrointestinal weight corrected for slaughter weight (SW). Crossbreds showed higher skin weight (308.2 vs. 299.7 g, P = 0.06) and distal parts of leg weight (75.7 vs. 71.4 g; P < 0.01), both corrected for SW. No genetic group effect was detected on dissectible fat and hind part weights. Chilled commercial carcass (1284 vs. 1229 g: P=0.02), chilled reference carcass (1036 vs. 1000 g, P=0.06), fore part (297.9 vs. 283.3 g; P=0.01) and loin (308.7 vs. 295.5 g; P=0.05) were heavier in crossbreds than in straightbreds, but these differences were attributed to differences in SW. Uncorrected weights of head, kidneys, liver and thoracic viscera were higher in the crossbred group, but only head (116.6 vs. 113.6 g; P=0.06) and thoracic viscera (30.4 vs. 28.6 g; P=0.01) were, in fact, proportionately heavier in crossbreds than in straightbreds. No effect of genetic group was detected on meat to bone ratio, muscle ultimate pH and chemical composition of the Longissimus dorsi muscle. All traits, except for ash and fat contents of the Longissimus muscle, showed age effects (P < 0.01). Crossbreeding may be recommended for the production of whole commercial carcasses, but it is not clearly advantageous for the production of retail cuts. Slaughter should take place between 63 and 70 d of age for both genetic groups.

Sorption isotherms of alligator's meat (Caiman crocodilus yacare)

Sorption isotherms were determined for salted alligator's meat at four different temperatures (10degreesC, 15degreesC, 25degreesC and 35degreesC), using a standard gravimetric method. The goodness of fit of five sorption models to experimental data was determined. Five models, namely the GAB, the BET, the Halsey, the Henderson and the Hailwood and Horrobin, were evaluated to determine the best fit for the experimental data. The GAB was the best fitted model for the data of salted alligator's meat with an average error less than 10% for temperature of 10degreesC and less than 5% for the others temperatures. The coefficients of determination (r(2)) were 0.99 for all temperatures considered. The monolayer values decreased as temperature increased. The other four models were not appropriated to fit the data because of the high error values, although the r(2) were also similar to the GAB model. The net isosteric heat of sorption was estimated from equilibrium sorption data, using the Clausis-Clapeyron equation. Isosteric heats of sorption were found to increase with increasing temperature and could be well adjusted by an exponential relationship. (C) 2002 Elsevier B.V. Ltd. All rights reserved.

A Non-Destructive Testing Based on Electromagnetic Measurements and Neural Networks for the Inspection of Concrete Structures

This paper presents a new non-destructive testing (NDT) for reinforced concrete structures, in order to identify the components of their reinforcement. A time varying electromagnetic field is generated close to the structure by electromagnetic devices specially designed for this purpose. The presence of ferromagnetic materials (the steel bars of the reinforcement) immersed in the concrete disturbs the magnetic field at the surface of the structure. These field alterations are detected by sensors coils placed on the concrete surface. Variations in position and cross section (the size) of steel bars immersed in concrete originate slightly different values for the induced voltages at the coils.. The values for the induced voltages were obtained in laboratory tests, and multi-layer perceptron artificial neural networks with Levemberg-Marquardt training algorithm were used to identify the location and size of the bar. Preliminary results can be considered very good.

DIAGNOSIS of REGIONAL CEREBRAL BLOOD FLOW ABNORMALITIES USING SPECT: AGREEMENT BETWEEN INDIVIDUALIZED STATISTICAL PARAMETRIC MAPS and VISUAL INSPECTION BY NUCLEAR MEDICINE PHYSICIANS WITH DIFFERENT LEVELS of EXPERTISE IN NUCLEAR NEUROLOGY

INTRODUCTION: Visual analysis is widely used to interpret regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) SPECT images in clinical practice despite its limitations. Automated methods are employed to investigate between-group rCBF differences in research Studies but have rarely been explored in individual analyses.OBJECTIVES: To compare visual inspection by nuclear physicians with the automated statistical parametric mapping program using a SPECT dataset of patients with neurological disorders and normal control images.METHODS: Using statistical parametric mapping, 14 SPECT images from patients with various neurological disorders were compared individually with a databank of 32 normal images using a statistical threshold of p<0.05 (corrected for multiple comparisons at the level of individual voxels or clusters). Statistical parametric mapping results were compared with Visual analyses by a nuclear physician highly experienced in neurology (A) as well as a nuclear physician with a general background of experience (B) who independently classified images as normal or altered, and determined the location of changes and the severity.RESULTS: of the 32 images of the normal databank, 4 generated maps showing rCBF abnormalities (p<0.05, corrected). Among the 14 images from patients with neurological disorders, 13 showed rCBF alterations. Statistical parametric mapping and physician A completely agreed on 84.37% and 64.28% of cases from the normal databank and neurological disorders, respectively. The agreement between statistical parametric mapping and ratings of physician B were lower (71.18% and 35.71%, respectively).CONCLUSION: Statistical parametric mapping replicated the findings described by the more experienced nuclear physician. This finding suggests that automated methods for individually analyzing rCBF SPECT images may be a valuable resource to complement visual inspection in clinical practice.

Carcass and meat quality traits of wild boar (Sus scrofa s. L.) with 2n=36 karyotype compared to those of phenotypically similar crossbreeds (2n=37 and 2n=38) raised under same farming conditions. 1. Carcass quantity and meat dressing

The aim of this study was to compare wild boar (chromosomal number 2n = 36) to phenotypically similar animals of 2n = 37 and 2n = 38 chromosomes (crossbreeds) with respect to live weight, carcass yield, meat yield, fat and weight of inner organs. All animals were born and raised on the same farm and slaughtered at 39 weeks. The final live weight of wild boar 2n = 36 was significantly lower (47.2 kg) as compared to crossbreeds (80.0 kg). Animals 2n = 36 had more carcass yields (65.5%) than 2n = 37 karyotype (64.9%) and 2n = 38 (64.4%). Wild boar had the highest yields for the cuts with bones and boneless cuts compared to crossbreeds. Therefore, variations in karyotype are accompanied by differences in some carcass quantitative traits, i.e., 2n = 36 grow and fatten slower than crossbreeds 2n = 37 and 2n = 38. (c) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Quality traits and lipid composition of meat from Nellore young bulls fed with different oils either protected or unprotected from rumen degradation

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Charqui meats are hurdle technology meat products

Charqui meat is a tropical intermediate meat product formulated using hurdle technology, a concept described by Leistner (1,2). Salt, sodium nitrite, dehydration, and packaging are hurdles sequentially applied to inhibit deteriorating microorganisms with the possibility of selecting desirable microbiota. This would characterize charqui and its derivatives as fermented meat products. This paper reviews biochemical, physico-chemical, and ultrastructural changes that occur during processing of charquis.