As consumers become increasingly concerned about dietary health, the health attributes of synthetic antioxidants and antibacterial agents used in the food industry are increasingly questioned, but natural active ingredients are increasingly preferred by producers and consumers due to their compliance with “clean labelling” requirements. The types and sources of natural antioxidant and antibacterial ingredients from plants commonly used in meat processing are reviewed in this paper. The mechanisms of their antioxidant and antibacterial effects in the processing and storage of meat products are also described. Furthermore, their forms and optimal concentrations for application in meat products are summarized. We expect that this review will provide a theoretical reference for the application of natural active ingredients from plants in the preservation of meat products.

This study aims to examine the changes of microbial contamination on the beef carcass surface and in the contact environment during cattle slaughtering. A total of 322 microbial samples were collected during the skinning, trimming and weighing, washing and chilling processes. The sampling sites were the hind legs, middle back, chest, front legs and neck as well as the operatives’ hands and knives. The aerobic plate count (APC), and the counts of Lactobacillus, coliform bacteria, Staphylococcus aureus and Pseadomonas were analyzed. The results showed that the level of microbial contamination on the carcass surface increased firstly and then decreased, and the highest level of microbial contamination was observed in the trimming and weighing process, with APC of 2.82 (lg(CFU/cm²)). The chest was the most contaminated part during slaughtering, with average APC of 2.10 (lg(CFU/cm²)). Slaughtering air was most contaminated during rinsing and its bacterial count was 271.33 CFU per plate. The operatives’ hands and knives were also a major source of microbial carcass contamination.

In order to study the oxidative stability of mutton oxymyoglobin (OxyMb), OxyMb was prepared from mutton myoglobin (Mb). The effects of NaCl, pH value, temperature and plant extracts on the stability of OxyMb were investigated under conditions simulating auto-oxidation of OxyMb. Results showed that the relative content of OxyMb increased at first and then decreased with increasing NaCl concentration, reaching the highest value of 67.07% at 1.5 g/100 mL. The stability of OxyMb in alkaline environment was higher than that in acidic environment. OxyMb could remain relatively stable in the temperature range of 4–30 ℃. The relative content of OxyMb decreased significantly when the temperature were higher than 35 ℃, while the relative content of metmyoglobin increased. Magnolia extract and bamboo leaf extract could improve the stability of mutton OxyMb.

As the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) free trade agreement and related policies have promoted the rapid development of trade, the ASEAN has given full play to its regional advantages in the field of edible agricultural products, and has become China’s largest trade partner. The increasing technical barriers to food trade in the ASEAN region show that there are great differences in its member countries’ standards and supervisory measures for their advantageous industries and products. At present, the ASEAN has initially established a food coordination and mutual recognition standard system, including food safety policies, coordination standards and technical specifications, in order to establish a unified regulatory framework of food safety standards and expand the influence of regional trade. Understanding the implementation of trade barrier measures and the current status of food safety standard coordination and supervision in the ASEAN is conducive to maintaining public safety, reducing trade costs, dealing with possible trade barriers, and further strengthening integrated cooperation between China and ASEAN in key areas such as standards and technical regulations.

The dynamic changes of volatile compounds in beef high rib during the dry-aging process were investigated by using electronic nose (E-nose) and gas chromatography-olfactometry-mass spectrometry (GC-O-MS). Samples with different aging periods could be clearly distinguished by E-nose. As the aging proceeded, the content of volatile compounds increased significantly. At the 28^th day, the content of volatile compounds was 3.21 times as high as that of unaged beef. Cluster analysis was used to investigate the similarity of changes in volatile compounds, suggesting that the aging process could be separated into three stages. The first stage was from days 0 to 7; the second stage was from days 7 to 21; the third stage was from days 21 to 28. The analysis of relative odor activity value (ROAV) and aroma characteristics demonstrated that during the whole aging process, the key aroma compounds were isopentanol and ethyl hexanoate, with wine-like, malty and fruity flavors. Meanwhile, the key volatile compounds of beef samples varied from period to period. At the 28^th day, decanal and dodecanal were identified as key aroma compounds, resulting in a change in the overall flavor of beef from fruity to fatty.

The high-quality development of the food industry is inseparable from scientific and technological innovation as an important engine. In recent years, the food industry in China has made great progress in scientific and technological innovation, and scientific and technological achievements have continued to emerge. Based on the status of national and provincial science and technology awards, intellectual property rights and recently published research papers in the food field, recent research achievements in this field are analyzed in order to reflect the current situation, characteristics and trends of innovations in the food industry. This article aims to provide decision-making references for scientific and technological innovation and policy formulation in the food industry.

Artificial meat falls into two categories: vegetarian meat and cultured meat. High production costs and unknown food safety supervision risks are major obstacles restricting the marketing of cultured meat. In contrast, as a traditional artificial meat with huge market potential, vegetarian meat is becoming a hotspot in the global food industry. New vegetarian meat products such as plant-based burger and vegetarian nuggets have been put on the market. However, food safety regulations and standard systems for vegetarian meat have not been well established, which brings challenges to compliance supervision and the healthy development of the industry. This article systematically reviews the current regulations and standards for vegetarian meat in some international organizations, developed countries and regions such as the Codex Alimentarius Commission, the United States, the European Union, Canada, Singapore, Australia, and New Zealand, as well as China. Meanwhile, we compare the characteristics of vegetarian meat in terms of product nomenclature and classification, the use of the animal-derived ingredients, quality indicators, the use of food additives and nutrition supplements, microbial limits, and labelling and claims between China and foreign countries. Finally, some suggestions are proposed for improving the vegetarian meat regulations and standard system in China.

The study aimed to investigate the dynamic changes of metabolites in beef high rib with different dry-aging periods by non-targeted metabolomics based on ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS). Multivariate statistical analysis and metabolic pathway analysis were performed on the metabolites. The results showed that 41 differential metabolites were identified in dry-aged beef, including 21 amino acids, 16 fatty acids, 2 nucleotides and 2 other metabolites. The types and relative contents of differential metabolites increased significantly with prolonged aging time. Five key metabolic pathways were identified, including purine metabolism; fatty acid degradation; alanine, aspartate and glutamate metabolism; arginine and proline metabolism; and the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle, which could promote the formation of flavor and nutrients in dry-aged beef.

The rapid detection of lipid oxidation in frozen pork was carried out by using Raman spectroscopy combined with chemometric methods. Frozen pork stored for 0–360 days was selected in this study, and the regression relationship between acid value or peroxide value and storage time was established by the least squares method. Raman spectra were collected with a portable Raman spectrometer and were preprocessed by Savitzky-Golay with five-point smoothing (SG-5), standard normal variate correction (SNV) or adaptive iteratively re-weighted penalized least squares (airPLS). The partial least square regression (PLSR) was used for modeling and analysis. Then competitive adaptive reweighted sampling (CARS) was used to select the Raman characteristic variables for the best preprocessed spectra to establish a CARS-PLSR model. It was found that the correlation between peroxide value and storage time was more significant during the storage period (P =0.0003 < 0.05). The prediction models with spectral preprocessing by using SNV and airPLS performed best. The CARS-PLSR model showed improved prediction performance. The CARS-PLSR models for prediction of acid and peroxide values had the following performance parameters: coefficient of determination for calibration (R_c²), 0.88 and 0.84; root mean square error of cross-validation (RMSECV), 0.31 and 2.33; coefficient of determination for prediction (R_p²), 0.76 and 0.75; root mean square error of prediction (RMSEP), 0.17 and 1.87, and ratio of performance to deviation (RPD), 2.59 and 1.90, respectively. In conclusion, our results show that the peroxide value of frozen pork is significantly correlated with storage time. The degree of lipid oxidation in frozen pork can be rapidly determined by using Raman spectroscopy.

Lipid oxidation and degradation in instant meatballs stored for different periods of time (0, 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 days) were investigated by measuring peroxide value (POV), thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) value, carbonyl value and diene value. The changes in the fatty acid composition of instant meatballs during storage were analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The evolution of volatile flavor compounds was studied by headspace-solid phase microextraction gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (HS-SPME-GC-MS) combined with calculation of odor activity value (OAV) and sensory evaluation. The results showed that eating quality attributes such as flavor and texture continued to decline during storage. Off-flavor appeared on the 4th day, and then quality deterioration was accelerated. The POV increased significantly during the early stage (0–3 days), but did not change significantly at the later stage (3–5 days). The TBARS value first increased slowly (0–4 days) and then dramatically (4–5 days). The carbonyl and diene values showed an upward trend during storage, indicating an increase in the degree of lipid oxidation. During storage, the proportion of unsaturated fatty acids (UFA) especially polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) was significantly reduced. A total of 36 volatile flavor compounds with OAV ≥ 0.1 were detected. Among of them, the number (15) of aldehydes was highest. The OAVs of aldehydes and alcohols accounted for a high proportion (79.73%–87.58% and 10.15%–16.64%, respectively) of the total. Four and two classes of odor-active compounds were significantly correlated with lipid oxidation and sensory score for flavor, respectively.