• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.37 no.6
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• pp.873-883
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• 2017

Variations in the definition of poultry meat quality exist because the quality traits are not solely based on intrinsic and extrinsic factors but also consumers' preference. Appearance quality traits (AQT), eating quality traits (EQT), and reliance quality traits (RQT) are the major factors focused by the consumer before buying good quality of poultry meat. AQT and EQT of poultry meat are controlled by physical and biochemical characteristics of muscle fibers which can be categorized into a total number of fibers (TNF), cross-sectional area of fibers (CSAF), and fiber type composition (FTC). In poultry meat, it has been shown that muscle fiber properties play a key role in meat quality because numerous studies have reported the relationships between quality traits and fiber characteristics. Despite intensive research has been carried out to manipulate the muscle fiber to improve poultry meat quality, demand in a rapid growth of poultry muscle has correlated to the deterioration in the meat quality. The present paper reviews the definition of poultry meat quality, meat quality traits, and variations of meat quality. Also, this review presents recent knowledge underlying the relationship between poultry meat quality traits and muscle fiber characteristics.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.32 no.11
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• pp.1641-1656
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• 2019

The present paper reviews the findings of different research studies on the effect of natural ingredients in the Japanese quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica) diet on carcass characteristics and meat quality. The results show a relationship between the type and concentration of ingredients used in diets and carcass characteristics and meat quality. The inclusion of medicinal herbs (thyme, black seed, and mint), plants (canola), seeds (chickpea), spices (cinnamon and coriander), worms (earthworms), bee products (propolis), phytochemicals (lycopene), and edible fungi (common mushrooms) in the diet improved carcass quality characteristics compared to the control diets (basal diets). The inclusion of medicinal herbs (spearmint and green tea), spices (cinnamon), vegetables (tomato), plants (verbena and canola), seeds (marijuana), and edible fungi (oyster mushrooms) improved meat quality. In conclusion, the use of ingredients of natural origin in the diet of Japanese quail improves carcass quality characteristics and meat quality.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.269-283
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• 2024

Cultured meat is one of the research areas currently in the spotlight in the agricultural and livestock industry, and refers to cells obtained from livestock that are proliferated and differentiated and processed into edible meat. These cell-cultured meats are mainly studied at the lab-scale by culturing them in flasks, and for commercial use, they are produced using scaffolds that mimic cell supports. Scaffolds are broadly divided into fiber scaffolds, hydrogels, and micro-carrier beads, and these are classified according to processing methods and materials. In particular, a scaffold is essential for mass production, which allows it to have appearance, texture, and flavor characteristics similar to meat. Because cultured meat is cultured in a state where oxygen is blocked, it may be lighter in color or produce less flavor substances than edible meat, but these can be compensated for by adding natural substances to the scaffolds or improving fat adhesion. In addition, it has the advantage of being able to express the texture characteristics of the scaffolds that make up the meat in various ways depending on the materials and manufacturing methods of the scaffolds. As a result, to increase consumers' preference for cultured meat and its similarity to edible meat, it is believed that manufacturing scaffolds taking into account the characteristics of edible meat will serve as an important factor. Therefore, continued research and interest in scaffolds is believed to be necessary.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.356-371
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• 2024

Novel meat-inspired products, such as cell-cultivated meat and meat analogues, embrace environmental sustainability, food safety and security, animal welfare, and human health, but consumers are still hesitant to accept these products. The appearance of food is often the most persuasive determinant of purchasing decisions for food. Producing cultivated meat and meat analogues with similar characteristics to conventional meat could lead to increased acceptability, marketability, and profitability. Color is one of the sensorial characteristics that can be improved using color-inducing methods and colorants. Synthetic colorants are cheap and stable, but natural pigments are regarded as safer components for novel food production. The complexity of identifying specific colorants to imitate both raw and cooked meat color lies in the differences in ingredients and methods used to produce meat alternatives. Research devoted to improving the sensorial characteristics of meat analogues has noted various color-inducing methods (e.g., ohmic cooking and pasteurization) and additives (e.g., lactoferrin, laccase, xylose, and pectin). Additionally, considerations toward other meat components, such as fat, can aid in mimicking conventional meat appearance. For instance, the use of plant-based fat replacers and scaffolds can produce a marked sensory enhancement without compromising the sustainability of alternative meats. Moving forward, consumer-relevant sensorial characteristics, such as taste and texture, should be prioritized alongside improving the coloration of meat alternatives.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.50-57
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• 2018

Meat comes from the skeletal muscles of farm animals, such as pigs, chickens, and cows. Skeletal muscles are composed of many muscle fibers. Muscle fibers are categorized into three types, fiber type I, IIA, and IIB, based on their contractile speed and metabolic properties. Different muscle fiber types have different biochemical, physiological, and biophysical characteristics. Especially, the characteristics of muscle fiber type I and IIB are opposite to each other. Muscle fiber type I has a relatively strong oxidative metabolic trait and a higher content of lipids. In contrast to fiber type I, muscle fiber type IIB has a strong glycolytic metabolic trait and a relatively lower content of lipids and a higher content of glycogen. Muscle fiber type IIA has intermediate properties between fiber type I and IIB. Thus, muscles with different fiber type compositions exhibit different ante- and post-mortem muscle characteristics. In particular, the different metabolic traits of muscles due to the different compositions of the fiber types strongly affect the biochemical and physiological processes during the conversion of muscle to meat and subsequently influence the quality of the meat. Therefore, understating muscle metabolism and muscle fiber characteristics is very important when discussing the traits of meat quality. This review is an overview on basic muscle metabolism, muscle fiber characteristics, and their influence on meat quality and finally provides a comprehensive understanding about the fundamental traits of muscles and meat quality.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.28 no.7
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• pp.1028-1037
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• 2015

Unique organoleptic characteristics such as rich flavors and chewy texture contribute to the higher popularity of native chicken in many Asian areas, while the commercial broilers are well-accepted due to their fast-growing and higher yields of meat. Sensory attributes of foods are often used to evaluate food eating quality and serve as references during the selection of foods. In this study, a three-phase descriptive sensory study was conducted to evaluate the sensory attributes of commercial broiler (BR) and Taiwan native chicken (TNC) breast meat, and investigate correlations between these sensory attributes and instrumental measurements. The results showed that for the first bite (phase 1), TNC meat had significantly higher moisture release, hardness, springiness, and cohesiveness than BR meat. After chewing for 10 to 12 bites (phase 2), TNC meat presented significantly higher chewdown hardness and meat particle size, whereas BR meat had significantly higher cohesiveness of mass. After swallowing (phase 3), TNC meat had higher chewiness and oily mouthcoat and lower residual loose particles than BR meat. TNC meat also provided more intense chicken flavors. This study clearly demonstrates that descriptive sensory analysis provides more detailed and more objectively information about the sensory attributes of meats from various chicken breeds. Additionally, sensory textural attributes vary between BR and TNC meat, and are highly correlated to the shear force value and collagen content which influence meat eating qualities greatly. The poultry industry and scientists should be able to recognize the sensory characteristics of different chicken meats more clearly. Accordingly, based on the meat's unique sensory and physicochemical characteristics, future work might address how meat from various breeds could best satisfy consumer needs using various cooking methods.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.74-86
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• 2020

Horse meat is nutritionally adequate to the elderly, but it has a comparatively hard texture in contrast to most of the food. In practice, the meat intake in the elderly is generally bated because the relatively difficult texture of the meat can diminish mastication. Thus, strategies are being developed to produce meat products remanding detracted mastication exertion and possibly exalt ingestion and nutritional stand, in the elderly. Hence, the effects of enzymes on textural characteristics of horse meat were studied, because they have well-known favorable efficacy on the meat tenderness by causing important demotion of the myo-fibrillar protein and collagen. Four treatments namely, papain, bromelin, pepsin, and pancreatin, alongside one control were invoked to the horse meat. Their effects on the texture parameters were determined. All the above enzymatic treatments significantly reduced hardness and resilience (p<0.001). These results present opportunities to produce essential fatty acids fortified horse meat with soft texture and satisfied technological characteristics. The intake of the essential fatty acids intensified horse meat could aid the elderly to get their aimed essential fatty acid demands. Results also suggest that horse meat tenderized through enzymatic processing stand for auspicious options for the comprehension of texture-revised diets in the elderly population.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.43 no.6
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• pp.1067-1086
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• 2023

With rapid advances in meat science in recent decades, changes in meat quality during the pre-slaughter phase of muscle growth and the post-slaughter process from muscle to meat have been investigated. Commonly used techniques have evolved from early physicochemical indicators such as meat color, tenderness, water holding capacity, flavor, and pH to various omic tools such as genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics to explore fundamental molecular mechanisms and screen biomarkers related to meat quality and taste characteristics. This review highlights the application of omics and integrated multi-omics in meat quality and taste characteristics studies. It also discusses challenges and future perspectives of multi-omics technology to improve meat quality and taste. Consequently, multi-omics techniques can elucidate the molecular mechanisms responsible for changes of meat quality at transcriptome, proteome, and metabolome levels. In addition, the application of multi-omics technology has great potential for exploring and identifying biomarkers for meat quality and quality control that can make it easier to optimize production processes in the meat industry.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.65 no.6
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• pp.1151-1168
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• 2023

Tenderness and taste characteristics of meat are the key determinants of the meat choices of consumers. This review summarizes the contemporary research on the molecular mechanisms by which postmortem aging of meat improves the tenderness and taste characteristics. The fundamental mechanism by which postmortem aging improves the tenderness of meat involves the operation of the calpain system due to apoptosis, resulting in proteolytic enzyme-induced degradation of cytoskeletal myofibrillar proteins. The improvement of taste characteristics by postmortem aging is mainly explained by the increase in the content of taste-related peptides, free amino acids, and nucleotides produced by increased hydrolysis activity. This review improves our understanding of the published research on tenderness and taste characteristics of meat and provides insights to improve these attributes of meat through postmortem aging.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.66 no.2
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• pp.251-265
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• 2024

Meat derived from skeletal muscles of animals is a highly nutritious type of food, and different meat types differ in nutritional, sensory, and quality properties. This study was conducted to compare the results of previous studies on the muscle fiber characteristics of major porcine skeletal muscles to the end of providing basic data for understanding differences in physicochemical and nutritional properties between different porcine muscle types (or meat cuts). Specifically, the muscle fiber characteristics between 19 major porcine skeletal muscles were compared. The muscle fibers that constitute porcine skeletal muscle can be classified into several types based on their contractile and metabolic characteristics. In addition, the muscle fiber characteristics, including size, composition, and density, of each muscle type were investigated and a technology based on these muscle fiber characteristics for improving meat quality or preventing quality deterioration was briefly discussed. This comparative review revealed that differences in muscle fiber characteristics are primarily responsible for the differences in quality between pork cuts (muscle types) and also suggested that data on muscle fiber characteristics can be used to develop optimal meat storage and packaging technologies for each meat cut (or muscle type).