Deep freezing to maintain the freshness of pork loin during long-term storage

Food Science and Biotechnology - As storage temperature impacts frozen meat quality, we evaluated the ideal freezing and storage temperatures for pork loin, and effects of long-term storage...     

Dynamic monitoring of the shelf life of Cobia (Rachycentron canadum): a study on the applicability of a smart photochromic indicator

To ensure the marketing of fresh fish‐based products, it is necessary to develop fast methods that assess its freshness in real time. This study therefore evaluated the applicability of a photochromic time–temperature indicator (TTI) to monitor the time and temperature history during the period of validity of the whole fish of the cobia specimen stored in ice. The TTI response was both visibly interpreted as well as adaptable to measurement using suitable equipment. The results showed that the smart indicator activated during 6 s of ultraviolet light showed a similar rate of deterioration of the analysed product visual response, proving to be a dynamic shelf life indicator that can assure consumers the ultimate quality point of the entire cobia easily, cheaply and accurately.     

Least fresh first cache replacement policy for NDN-based IoT networks

In-network caching in Named Data Networking (NDN) based Internet of Things (IoT) plays a central role for efficient data dissemination. Data cached throughout the network may quickly become obsolete as they are transient and frequently updated by their producers. As such, NDN-based IoT networks impose stringent requirement in terms of data freshness. While various cache replacement policies were proposed, none has considered the cache freshness requirement. In this paper, we introduce a novel cache replacement policy called Least Fresh First (LFF) integrating the cache freshness requirement. LFF evicts invalid cached contents based on time series forecasting of sensors future events. Extensive simulations are performed to evaluate the performance of LFF and to compare it to the different well-known cache replacement policies in ICN-based IoT networks. The obtained results show that LFF significantly improves data freshness compared to other policies, while enhancing the server hit reduction ratio, the hop reduction ratio and the response latency.     

Colorimetric assay for determination of trimethylamine-nitrogen (TMA-N) in fish by combining headspace-single-drop microextraction and microvolume UV–vis spectrophotometry

In this work, headspace-single-drop microextraction has been used in combination with microvolume UV–vis spectrophotometry to enhance the determination of trimethylamine-nitrogen (TMA-N) in fish samples. TMA-N is often used for monitoring fish freshness, but due to the low analytical sensitivity usually achieved, its determination must be performed after certain time of storage in some fish species. The proposed methodology, based on the extraction and subsequent complexation of volatile TMA-N onto a picric acid-containing xylene microdrop exposed to the headspace, involves an important improvement of sensitivity (detection limit 6 × 10⁻⁴ mg TMA-N per 100 g of fish), a miniaturization of the AOAC Official Method (971.14) and a simple approach for routine labs. This method is well suited to determination of TMA-N in different species of frozen and fresh fish samples from markets and to study the evolution of TMA-N concentration in farmed turbot at the earliest stages of deterioration.     

Evaluation of chicken freshness using a low-cost colorimetric sensor array with AdaBoost–OLDA classification algorithm

This paper attempted to evaluate chicken freshness using a low-cost colorimetric sensor array with the help of a classification algorithm. We fabricated a novel and low-cost colorimetric sensors array, with a specific colorific fingerprint to volatile compounds, using printing chemically responsive dyes on a C2 reverse silica-gel flat plate. In addition, we proposed a novel classification algorithm for sensors data classification – orthogonal linear discriminant analysis (OLDA) and adaptive boosting (AdaBoost) algorithm, namely AdaBoost–OLDA. And we compared it with two classical classification algorithms – linear discriminant analysis (LDA) and back propagation artificial neural network (BP-ANN). Experimental results showed classification results by AdaBoost–OLDA algorithm is superior to BP-ANN and LDA algorithms, the classification results by which are both 100% in the calibration and prediction sets. This study sufficiently demonstrated that the colorimetric sensors array with a classification algorithm has a high potential in evaluating chicken freshness, and AdaBoost–OLDA algorithm has a strong performance in solution to a complex data classification.     

Automatic freshness assessment of cod (Gadus morhua) fillets by Vis/Nir spectroscopy

VIS/NIR spectroscopy for differentiating between fresh and frozen-thawed cod fillets and for assessing the freshness as days on ice has been evaluated. Both a handheld interactance probe for doing quick measurements of single fillets and an imaging spectrometer for doing online analysis at industrial speed of one fillet per second, have been used. Results show that frozen-thawed cod fillets can be fully separated from fresh fillets using a small subset of wavelengths in the visible region. Freshness as days on ice can be determined with an accuracy of 1.6 days on individual fillets. The results indicate that oxidation of hemoglobin and myoglobin during freezing-thawing and cold storage on ice are explaining most of the variations seen in the visible region of the spectrum.     

Quality of Crude Oil Extracted from Aging Walleye Pollock (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Theragra chalcogramma</Emphasis>) Byproducts

The quality of crude oil was examined as a function of the temperature and delay time between collecting and processing the fish byproducts from a commercial cannery into crude oil. Extracts from pollock byproducts stored at 6 and 15 °C for up to 4 and 10 days was examined. Longer storage of byproducts resulted in higher free fatty acid (FFA) and an increase in retinol levels in the extracted crude oils. Primary and secondary oxidation assays consisting of peroxide value and thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances increased initially with storage time on day 1 followed by an unexpected decrease with storage time. Higher storage temperature resulted in greater FFA and retinol levels, but lower oxidation products in the crude oils. The tocopherol levels decreased with storage time of the byproducts with no differences between the storage temperatures. Eicosapentaenoic acid, docosahexaenoic acid and polyunsaturated fatty acids percentage remained similar in the extracted oils with the respective storage time or temperature treatments.     

Development of Quality Index Method (QIM) scheme for Acoupa weakfish (Cynoscion acoupa)

A Quality Index Method (QIM) scheme for gutted and iced Acoupa weakfish (Cynoscion acoupa) was developed and its efficiency for freshness evaluation was compared with instrumental colour analysis, microbial and chemical methods. The QIM scheme comprises sensory evaluation of 14 parameters, reaching a total sum of 23 demerit points. The evolution of Quality Index (QI) was identical in two independent storage experiments and could be represented by the equation QI = 1.3593 × days − 0.3822 (R² = 0.9614, P < 0.0001). The QIM results indicated a shelf life of 8–9 days, when the sensory quality was considered unacceptable. The storage time affected a∗ and b∗ values for fish gill and caudal fin, respectively. Psychrotrophic bacteria counts (PBC) increased at different rates during the iced storage of fish in three independent storage experiments, reaching the maximum recommended limit for marginally acceptable quality products of 10⁷ CFU/g between 6 and 14 days. The shelf life of Acoupa weakfish estimated by QIM was slightly longer than that evaluated by PBC. The rate and pattern of total volatile base nitrogen and trimethylamine production was different in fish from three independent storage experiments. The use of QIM scheme was a reliable way of assessing freshness of Acoupa weakfish.     

Quality assessment of wild European eel (Anguilla anguilla) stored in ice

The quality assessment of wild European eel (Anguilla anguilla) stored in ice and in boxes without ice (3 ± 1 °C) was investigated by the sensory analysis, levels of nucleotide breakdown products and biogenic amines for up to 19 days. Sensory analysis was assessed using the Tasmanian Food Research Unit Scheme. K and related values (K_i, G, P, H and F_r) were used as freshness indicators. Linear regressions (r²) obtained from K, K_i, G, P, H and F_r were 0.95, 0.96, 0.83, 0.96, 0.99 and 0.96, respectively, for eel stored in ice whereas, for eel kept in boxes without ice, the values were 0.86, 0.86, 0.96, 0.91, 0.98 and 0.86, respectively. When eel stored in ice and in boxes without ice were considered at the limit of acceptability by assessors at ∼12–14 days and ∼5–7 days, respectively, the average K, K_i and P values were ∼70–85%, H values were ∼60% and F_r values were ∼10% for both storage conditions. The level of histamine exceeded the legal limit (5 mg/100 g fish) in eel stored without ice after 6–7 days and, in ice, after 13–14 days of storage, at which time eels were rejected by the sensory panel. The concentrations of biogenic amines were higher in eel stored in boxes without ice than in eel kept in ice. The levels of histamine in the muscle of eel kept in boxes without ice and in ice increased to the maximum levels of 17.9 mg/100 g on day 12 and 12.6 mg/100 g on day 19, respectively.