Current legislation in the European Union places limits on live pig transport according to outside temperature, but less is known about the effects of sudden changes in the thermal microenvironment in trailers, particularly during long-distance transport. In this study, we measured the temperature and relative humidity inside livestock vehicles carrying 1920 Spanish finisher pigs (live weight 100 kg and 240 animals per journey) during eight long-distance (>15 h) commercial journeys to slaughter from northern Spain to Portugal in the summer and winter. Here, we report the rate of change in the air temperature (°C × min−1) and air enthalpies in the transport vehicle (kg water kg dry air-1). At sticking, blood samples were taken for to measure cortisol, glucose, and creatine kinase (CK) as stress response indicators, and the meat pH after 45 min and the pH after 24 h were also determined. The rate of change in the air temperature and enthalpy was higher inside the livestock vehicle during the winter months and was positively related with higher cortisol and glucose levels and lower pH after 45 min (p < 0.05). It is proposed that the rate of temperature change and air enthalpy represent useful integrated indices of thermal stress for pigs during transport.

In current industrial environments there is an increasing need for practical and inexpensive quality control systems to detect the foreign food materials in powder food processing lines. This demand is especially important for the detection of product adulteration with traces of highly allergenic products, such as peanuts and tree nuts. Manufacturing industries dealing with the processing of multiple powder food products present a substantial risk for the contamination of powder foods with traces of tree nuts and other adulterants, which might result in unintentional ingestion of nuts by the sensitised population. Hence, the need for an in-line system to detect nut traces at the early stages of food manufacturing is of crucial importance. In this present work, a feasibility study of a spectral index for revealing adulteration of tree nut and peanut traces in wheat flour samples with hyperspectral images is reported. The main nuts responsible for allergenic reactions considered in this work were peanut, hazelnut and walnut. Enhanced contrast between nuts and wheat flour was obtained after the application of the index. Furthermore, the segmentation of these images by selecting different thresholds for different nut and flour mixtures allowed the identification of nut traces in the samples. Pixels identified as nuts were counted and compared with the actual percentage of peanut adulteration. As a result, the multispectral system was able to detect and provide good visualisation of tree nut and peanut trace levels down to 0.01% by weight. In this context, multispectral imaging could operate in conjuction with chemical procedures, such as Real Time Polymerase Chain Reaction and Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay to save time, money and skilled labour on product quality control. This approach could enable not only a few selected samples to be assessed but also to extensively incorporate quality control surveyance on product processing lines.

Some neural bruise prediction models have been implemented in the laboratory, for the most traded fruit species and varieties, allowing the prediction of the acceptability or rejectability for damages, with respect to the EC Standards. Different models have been built for both quasi-static (compression) and dynamic (impact) loads covering the whole commercial ripening period of fruits. A simulation process has been developed gathering the information on laboratory bruise models and load sensor calibrations for different electronic devices (IS-100 and DEA-1, for impact and compression loads respectively). Some evaluation methodology has been designed gathering the information on the mechanical properties of fruits and the loading records of electronic devices. The evaluation system allows to determine the current stage of fruit handling process and machinery.

No abstract