Microbiological and physicochemical parameters for predicting quality of fat and low‐fat raw ground beef during refrigerated aerobic storage

Abstract

The aim of the current study was to identify quality indicators of fat (14.50 ± 0.75%) and low-fat (4.79 ± 0.63%) raw ground beef by monitoring changes in physicochemical and microbiological parameters during aerobic refrigerated storage, such as water-holding capacity, pH, thiols, carbonyl compounds, thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), metmyoglobin, deoxymyoglobin, oxymyoglobin color indices, pseudomonads, Brochothrix thermosphacta, and total viable counts. Meat packaged in air-permeable polyethylene plastic film was stored under controlled isothermal conditions (0, 5, 10, and 15°C). A population level of pseudomonads equal to 7.0 ± 0.5 log 10 colony forming units (CFU)/g was considered as the potential spoilage level. Using principal component analysis, samples were distinguished on the basis of their microbial load. A significant positive correlation between microbial population and carbonyls, metmyoglobin, TBARS, water-holding capacity, and a negative correlation with thiols and color parameters (L * , chroma) were observed. Two different approaches were followed to estimate the quality status of samples: (i) the partial least square (PLS) regression with R 2 of 0.93 and root mean square error prediction of 0.44 for pseudomonads, using the above physicochemical characteristics as the dominant input variables, which allowed prediction of the microbiological status of ground beef regardless of time-temperature storage profile and fat content, and (ii) a square-root-type model (adjusted R 2 of 0.952) that satisfactorily predicted the growth of spoilage pseudomonads under isothermal and dynamic conditions, regardless of the above physicochemical changes. The above results suggest that depending on the available input data, the two modeling approaches can accurately (and complementarily) assess quality of aerobically stored ground beef. Practical Application:Changes in appearance and quality of fat and low-fat raw ground beef are associated with physicochemical alteration and/or microbial growth. The study provides two different modeling approaches that can be integrated in an intelligent interface of the refrigerator having specific colorimetric and/or temperature sensors, to evaluate in a convenience way the quality of stored meat thus reducing domestic waste: the partial least square model was based on physicochemical parameters (particularly chroma, metmyoglobin, and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances), while the square root model was based on the time-temperature conditions during storage.

Formation of Predictive-Based Models for Monitoring the Microbiological Quality of Beef Meat Processed for Fast-Food Restaurants

“…Many empirical models are used for understanding microbiological profiles of meat and meat products, but a step forward in advanced mathematical and statistical modelling is still not widely applied. Only a few studies included using predictive tools for an explanation of microbiological experimental data, such as partial least squares regression analysis [ 47 ], growth kinetics modelling [ 48 , 49 ], nonlinear least square regression analysis with the Levenberg–Marquardt method of estimation [ 50 ], Lorentzian distribution function and Nonlinear regression [ 51 ], etc. On the other hand, when attempting to build a mathematical model in the area of predictive microbiology, the artificial neural network (ANN) model is perceived as one of the most relevant and universal anticipating tools [ 52 , 53 ].…”

Metataxonomic signature of beef burger perishability depends on the meat origin prior grinding

“…In relation to the ISO standards for the enumeration of spoilage population in meat its shelf-life under vacuum packages (VP) spans from ten to fourteen days (Pothakos, Snauwaert, De Vos, Huys, & Devlieghere, 2014). However, the number of biochemical reactions rises considerably in parallel to the microbial growth and compounds related to undesirable sensory changes are produced even before the use-by date (Hultman, Johansson, & Björkroth, 2020;Pothakos, Devlieghere, Villani, Björkroth, & Ercolini, 2015;Valerio et al, 2020).…”

“…One of the major causes of off-flavours and off-odours in ground beef is the lipid oxidation with the following formation of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) like aldehydes and ketones (Valerio et al, 2020). Overall, VOCs accumulation over certain thresholds can lead to products rejection due to rancidity odours and meat colour change (Casaburi, Piombino, Nychas, Villani, & Ercolini, 2015).…”

Effect of the type of packaging on the shelf life of ground rabbit meat

“…For example, microbial spoilage in ground meat is translated in undesirable sensory changes like flavor, aroma, and appearance (Gonzalez et al, 2014). Simultaneously, chemical reactions like protein and lipid degradation produces compounds as amines and free fatty acids related to sensory characteristics degradation, thereby limiting the shelf life of meat (Valerio et al, 2020). Ground meat is especially sensitive to spoilage due to an increased surface area and, consequently, the exposure of cell fluids for microbial growth and chemical reactions.…”