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.     

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.     

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.     

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.     

无水硫酸氢钾催化合成3-烷氧基噻吩

以CuBr为催化剂,N-甲基-2-吡咯烷酮为溶剂,在110℃用3-溴噻吩与过量的甲醇钠进行取代反应合成3-甲氧基噻吩,收率为82.3%。再以无水KHSO4为催化剂,3-甲氧基噻吩分别与乙醇、丙醇、丁醇、戊醇、己醇和辛醇在105~115℃反应2.5、2.5、3、3.5、3.5和3.5h,合成了3-乙氧基噻吩、3-丙氧基噻吩、3-丁氧基噻吩、3-戊氧基噻吩、3-己氧基噻吩和3-辛氧基噻吩,收率分别为75.8%、73.5%7、0.4%、68.7%、66.3%、55.3%。这些化合物结构都通过IR1、HNMR和MS进行了表征,还进行了初步香味评价。结果表明它们都具有基本肉香味的特征。     

Mn2+、Nb5+共掺BaTiO3陶瓷的制备及压电性能的研究

本文采用改进的固相反应法,制备了施主杂质Nb5 和受主杂质Mn2 共掺的BaTiO3陶瓷。按不同Nb5 、Mn2 的掺杂量,分别在1180℃、1210℃、1250℃、1280℃温度下煅烧。实验结果表明:当烧结温度为1250℃、掺杂量为0.05mol%时,制得的试样性能较好。