Why do small business butcher shops fail to fully implement HACCP?

This study aims to assess the degree of HACCP implementation in small business butcher shops and understand which factors most influence butchers' intention to fully implement it, through the application of the Theory of Planned Behaviour. One hundred and one butchers managing or owning small butcher's responded to the interview regarding their Attitudes, Subjective Norm, Perceived Behavioural Control, Personal Norm, and Knowledge with regard to their Intention to fully implement a HACCP system in their shops. Before the interviews, a certified veterinarian visited all the shops. Visits included an inspection of the establishments using the Official Portuguese Control Plan checklist for meat retailers. Conformance level measured past performance regarding food safety practices. Based on past performance, butchers were divided into “high performers” and “low performers”. “High performers” yielded high values of Attitude and Intention towards the Behaviour. For these, Attitude and Personal Norm emerge as predictors of the Intention to fully implement a HACCP system. For “low performers”, Personal Norm was the strongest predictor of Intention, with results pointing to the need for an intervention from the authorities to promote increased conformance to food safety practices. For both groups, neither Social Norm nor Perceived Behavioural Control acted as significant predictors of Intention.     

Effects of Salting, Drying, Cooking, and Smoking Operations on Volatile Compound Formation and Color Patterns in Pork

ABSTRACT: The traditional small-scale production of boucané, a cured smoked pork-belly product from Réunion, involves several unit operations that are performed in a single step. The aim of this study was to highligh the impact of 4 unit operations (salting, drying, cooking, and smoking) on stability, color, and flavor development in processed pork. These characateristics are the 3 main criteria of boucané's quality. Mass transfer, color, and volatile compounds were measured, analyzed, and compared in 4 products. Results indicated that a major quantity of volatile compounds detected in the processed meat were derived from the smoking process. Color variations were mainly explained by muscle pigment modification due to the cooking process, and by the input of volatile compounds of smoke.     

Structural Changes in Titin and Nebulin Filaments Specific to Calcium Ions at 0.1 mM: Factors of Meat Tenderization During Postmortem Aging

ABSTRACT Postmortem structural changes in titin and nebulin filaments were investigated by incubating isolated myofibrils in a solution containing 0.1 mM calcium ions and various concentrations of a protease inhibitor. The inhibition curves showed 2 abnormal steps with increases in the concentration of leupeptin or calpastatin domain I. While the amounts of unchanged titin and nebulin were constant in the 1st step, the 2nd occurred at higher protease inhibitor concentrations. These facts indicated that excess amounts of leupeptin and calpastatin domain I caused deterioration in titin and nebulin properties, thus interfering with the binding of calcium ions. We concluded that the severance of titin and nebulin filaments in the 1st step were induced by calcium ions at 0.1 mM.     

初春施工技术要点探讨

论述了初春施工这个特定的施工季节所具有的特征，从气候、施工人员、工程情况及受冻土体等方面对初春施工易出现的问题进行了分析，对施工过程及施工技术规律性问题做了细化性研究和探讨。     

Developing a Fish Meat-binding Agent: Purification of Salmon Thrombin

Thrombin from Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) was purified and characterized as a potential new binding agent for the food industry. Purification was performed avoiding inhibitors, using BaSO₄ adsorption and heparin‐Sepharose affinity chromatography. Prothrombin activation was performed using a mixture of eggs and gills from salmon. Optimized conditions for the adsorption, elution, and the activation step are presented. The purified thrombin clotted bovine fibrinogen with a specific activity of 1423 U/mg. Sequence data are presented and compared with other species. This method of nontoxic activation and purification will allow salmon thrombin to be used in the food industry.     

Eight-year exploration of shrinkage in high-performance concrete

In this paper, an experimental and analytical exploration on the effect of water-binder ratio (w/b), silica fume and age on autogenous, carbonation, drying and total shrinkage of high-performance concrete (HPC) is outlined. Eight types of HPC were studied. Carbonation, internal relative humidity (RH) and strength were studied on specimens from the same batch of HPC that was used in the studies of shrinkage. The results indicate fairly good correlation between carbonation, shrinkage, w/b and RH. The type and amount of silica fume affected shrinkage.     

Characterization of the flow behaviour of sausage emulsions with a simple tube viscometer

A specially designed tube viscometer was used to measure apparent viscosity during flow of Bologna type sausage emulsions moving through a pipe. Emulsions varied in fat content (from 21.8 to 44.3%) and in moisture/protein ratio (from 3.7 to 5.6), and the effects of added sodium chloride, sodium diphosphate, starch and blood plasma were investigated in a 36% fat, 3.7 moisture/protein emulsion.
The shear stresses determined as a function of shear rate were fitted by a power law. Yield stress of the emulsions was negligible relative to the applied stress. However, inspection of the flow profiles indicated that considerable slip of the sausage emulsion occurred at the pipe wall. Both emulsion flow and slip contribute to overall flow behaviour, so a kind of effective viscosity is determined. Intrinsic rheological properties and wall slip will both be affected by the composition of the sausage emulsion.     

Steam Surface Pasteurization of Beef Frankfurters

Meat and poultry products are sources of foodborne bacterial contamination. We used flash steam heating followed by evaporative cooling to quickly reduce bacterial contamination on the surface of beef frankfurters without degrading appearance. The rate of heat transfer was studied by measuring surface temperature in a pressure chamber during steam heating. Quality changes were determined by measuring color and weight as functions of steam temperature and treatment time. Efficacy of the process was verified by microbiological experiments using L. innocua. Treatment times of 30–40 set at 115–136°C gave a 4 log reduction in bacterial counts on the surface without severely affecting color or weight. After long-term storage at 6°C and at 19°C, levels of bacteria on inoculated frankfurters remained reduced and there was no difference between treated and untreated products in color or weight.     

Solar radiation climate in Malawi

Recently, Diabaté et al. [Diabaté, L., Blanc, Ph., Wald, L., 2004. Solar climate in Africa. Solar Energy 76, 733–744] created a map of solar radiation climate in Africa using clearness index for 62 sites. They established a solar climate class II located in Malawi and Madagascar. However, their analysis did not include any irradiation data from a site in Malawi. In this study, the solar radiation climate of Malawi has been studied using long-term global radiation data from a local site. The mean monthly (K_tm) and seasonal (K_ts) daily clearness indices for the site were computed. It is observed that K_tm has two maxima in a year (K_tm = 0.58 in May and K_tm = 0.64 in September), in close conformity with findings of Diabaté et al. (2004). Other results are presented and discussed.     

European intercomparison on electron spin resonance identification of irradiated foodstuffs

The results of a co-trial organized by the Community Bureau of Reference on the use of Electron Spin Resonance spectroscopy for the identification of irradiated food in 21 laboratories are presented. The trial was qualitative on beef and trout bones, sardine scales, pistachio nut shells, dried grapes, and papaya, and quantitative on poultry bones. There was no difficulty in identifying irradiated meat bones, dried grapes, and papaya. In the case of fish bones there is a need for further kinetic study on different species. Identification of irradiation in pistachio nuts is more complicated and additional research is needed before further trials. All laboratories were able to distinguish between chicken bones irradiated at 1 to 3 kGy or 7 to 10 kGy although there was a partial overlap between the results.