Comminuted meat products are highly susceptible to safety and quality degradation partly because of their large interfacial area in the emulsion. The food industry extensively uses synthetic chemical preservatives to delay that degradation which is caused by microbial growth, enzyme activities and oxidation reactions. However, due to the potential health damage (e.g., cardiovascular diseases, neurodegenerative diseases, cancers among others) synthetic preservatives in meat may cause, consumers are becoming skeptical to buy meat products containing such additives. In the meat industry, the interest of finding natural food preservatives is intensifying. Polyphenolic-rich plants used as natural food preservatives offer the best alternative for a partial or a complete replacement of their synthetic counterparts. They can be extracted from natural sources such as olives, fruits, grapes, vegetables, spices, herbs, and algae, and among others. The common feature of these phenolic compounds is that they have one or more aromatic rings with one or more -OH group which are essential for their antimicrobial and antioxidant properties. This review article is intended to provide an overview of the plant-based phenolic molecules used as natural food preservative, their antimicrobial and antioxidant mechanism of action, and their potential application in comminuted meat.

Meatballs are popular in Asia and traditionally made from beef or chicken with tapioca (≈8% wt/wt) as filler. Tapioca has a high glycaemic index (GI); therefore, rice bran was evaluated as a substitute to create a healthier meatball of acceptable quality. Substitution of tapioca with rice bran (100:0; 75:25, 50:50; 25:75; 0:100% tapioca: % rice bran) decreased the starch content (7.8 to 3.3%) and GI (56.08 to 43.85) whilst increasing the protein (10.9 to 12.8%) and fibre (8.1 to 10.3%) contents. Although consistency (995 to 776 N/mm) was affected, firmness (90.6 to 90.5 N) and shear force (300 to 312 N) were only slightly affected by the ratio of tapioca to rice bran. Sensory analysis revealed that the goat meatball with the substitution of tapioca with up to 25% rice bran was deemed acceptable by 40 Indonesian consumers.

Adulterated, poor-quality, and unsafe foods, including meat, are still major issues for both the food industry and consumers, which have driven efforts to find alternative technologies to detect these challenges. This study evaluated the use of a portable near-infrared (NIR) instrument, combined with chemometrics, to identify and classify individual-intact fresh goat muscle samples. Fresh goat carcasses (n = 35; 19 to 21.7 Kg LW) from different animals (age, breeds, sex) were used and separated into different commercial cuts. Thus, the longissimus thoracis et lumborum, biceps femoris, semimembranosus, semitendinosus, supraspinatus, and infraspinatus muscles were removed and scanned (900–1600 nm) using a portable NIR instrument. Differences in the NIR spectra of the muscles were observed at wavelengths of around 976 nm, 1180 nm, and 1430 nm, associated with water and fat content (e.g., intramuscular fat). The classification of individual muscle samples was achieved by linear discriminant analysis (LDA) with acceptable accuracies (68–94%) using the second-derivative NIR spectra. The results indicated that NIR spectroscopy could be used to identify individual goat muscles.

The use of synthetic chemicals in meat products has raised consumer health concerns, driving increased interest in natural preservatives. This study evaluated the effectiveness of lactic acid (LA) as a natural preservative in raw beef patties, comparing it to sodium metabisulphite (SMB; 450 ppm) and a negative control (NC). Ground beef was treated with varying concentrations of LA (0.125%, 0.25%, 0.375% and 0.5%) and stored at 4 ^° C ± 1 ^° C for 20 days. Microbial growth, lipid oxidation, pH, colour, cooking yield and texture were analysed throughout the storage period. Results showed that LA‐treated patties significantly inhibited microbial growth ( p < 0.05) compared to NC, though SMB exhibited the strongest antimicrobial effect. Lipid oxidation levels in LA‐treated patties were comparable to NC ( p > 0.05), whereas SMB‐treated patties had the lowest oxidation values ( p < 0.05). Increasing LA concentrations led to a reduction in pH, whilst colour analysis revealed decreased redness and higher metmyoglobin content in LA‐treated samples. Texture profile analysis showed no significant differences in hardness, cohesiveness, gumminess or chewiness amongst treatments; however, springiness was affected ( p < 0.05). These findings suggest that LA, at concentrations of 0.125% or higher, can effectively extend shelf life, offering a natural alternative to synthetic preservatives like SMB whilst aligning with consumer preferences for cleaner label meat products.

This study aimed to evaluate the utilisation of near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy combined with chemometric techniques to identify the addition of goat liver to goat minced meat and to monitor the shelf life of the samples up to 8 days of storage. Mix samples were created by adding goat liver to goat meat in different ratios (0%, 2%, 4%, 6%, and 8% w/w), and after mincing, the samples were stored under chilled (2–4 °C) conditions for 8 days. The NIR spectra, CIELab parameters, and pH of the mixture samples were collected at the start of the study and after 2, 4, 6, and 8 days of storage. The mince became darker with the increase in days of storage, while the pH value was not affected by days of storage. Partial least squares (PLS) regression was used to develop calibration models for the CIELab parameters to predict the level of liver addition to minced meat and to predict days of storage. The standard error in cross-validation (SECV) and the coefficient of determination in cross-validation (R²_cv) were 0.10 (SECV: 3.3), 0.63 (SECV: 1.5), and 0.60 (SECV: 0.90) for L*, a*, and b*, respectively. The R²_CV and SECV were 0.32 (SECV: 2.4%) and 0.92 (SECV: 0.98 days) to predict the level of liver addition to minced meat and days of storage, respectively. The NIR calibration models developed to predict the CIELab parameters and level of addition of liver to minced meat were inadequate for predicting new samples. On the other hand, the PLS models developed could predict the days of storage, R²_cv 0.92 (SECV: 0.98 days). Compared with traditional methods such as CIELab or pH measurements, NIR spectroscopy can yield results more rapidly. However, the variability in the data set should be increased to allow the development of more reliable models.