The effect of Juniperus communis L. essential oil (JEO) addition at concentrations of 0.01, 0.05 and 0.10 µL/g on pH, instrumental parameters of color, lipid oxidation (2-Thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS)), microbial growth, texture and sensory attributes of dry fermented sausages produced with different levels of fat (15 and 25%) and sodium nitrite (0, 75 and 150 mg/kg) was assessed. Reduced level of sodium nitrite (75 mg/kg) in combination with all three concentrations of JEO (0.01–0.10 µL/g) resulted in satisfying physico-chemical (color and texture) properties and improved oxidative stability (TBARS < 0.3 mg MDA/kg) of dry fermented sausages produced with 25% of fat. However, sausages produced with 0.10 µL/g of JEO had untypical flavor. No foodborne pathogens (Escherichia coli, Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella spp. and sulfite-reducing clostridia) were detected in any sample throughout the storage period (225 days). The results of this study revealed significant antioxidative activity of JEO and consequently its high potential as effective partial replacement for sodium nitrite in dry fermented sausages.

This study investigates the effects of sodium nitrite replacement by the sage essential oil (SEO), on the physico-chemical, microbiological and sensory quality of dry fermented sausages (DFS) during 225 days of storage. The SEO (0.00, 0.05 and 0.10 µL/g) was added in DFS batters formulated with different levels of pork back fat (15% and 25%) and sodium nitrite (0, 75 and 150 mg/kg). The inclusion of SEO had no negative impact on pH, color (instrumental and sensory) and texture parameters. Total plate counts were lower than 6 log CFU (colony forming units)/g in all samples throughout the storage. Furthermore, the addition of SEO at concentration of 0.05 µL/g provided acceptable TBARS (2-Thiobarbituric acid reactive substances) values (<0.3 mg MDA (malondialdehyde)/kg) in the samples produced with reduced levels of sodium nitrite (0 and 75 mg/kg) without negative alternations on sensory attributes of odor and flavor. Generally, our findings confirmed that the usage of SEO could be a good solution to produce healthier DFS with reduced levels of sodium nitrite.

Pungency is an interesting sensory stimulus analyzed from different perspectives, in particular the underpinning mechanisms of its sensation and perception. In this study, grilled pork meat coated with three types of hot sauces were investigated regarding its main food oral processing characteristics and evaluated using time-intensity and temporal dominance of pungency sensations methods analyzing the pungency descriptors and intensities. Besides these methods, facial expressions obtained from video capturing were subject to emotion detection. Mastication parameters showed a slight, but not statistically significant, trend of an increased number of chews and consumption time associated with pungency intensity, while saliva incorporation indicated an increasing trend depending on the pungency intensity, especially after 25 strokes and before swallowing. Both time intensity and temporal dominance of pungency sensations showed that the complexity of understanding these sensations is in relation to intensity and type. Finally, the use of emotion detection software in analyzing the faces of panelists during mastication confirmed the increase in non-neutral emotions associated with the increase in pungency intensity.

Snail meat is used daily in the human diet. Snails are used in human nutrition daily in some regions of the world. According to measurable attributes of proteins and lipids quality, snails fall into the middle category of this source of nutrients. The paper describes nutritive attributes of snail’s quality from the aspect of macro and micro nutrients. In the composition of essential amino acid leucine and lysine are dominant, and tryptophan is missing. Essential fatty acids are relatively high in snails, especially linolenic and arahidonic acid, but some polyunsaturated omega-3 fatty acids, such as EPA. Out of mineral material copper, iron and magnesium take an important place. With regard to methods of diet and residence snail meat can be loaded to certain heavy metals, residues of radioactive substances and pesticides. These are reasons to control the snails before processing in order to increase safety of the obtained product.

Rapid and objective assessment of food color is necessary in quality control. The color evaluation of animal source foods using a computer vision system (CVS) and a traditional colorimeter is examined. With the same measurement conditions, color results deviated between these two approaches. The color returned by the CVS had a close resemblance to the perceived color of the animal source foods, whereas the colorimeter returned not typical colors. The effectiveness of the CVS is confirmed by the study results. Considering these data, it could be concluded that the colorimeter is not representative method for color analysis of animal source foods, therefore, the color read by the CVS seemed to be more similar to the real ones.

The concentrations of pesticide residues were determined in 2164 samples of 46 fruit species, collected over a 4-year period. Fruits originated from 59 countries, including Serbia (N = 199). Pesticide residues were determined by liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) after extraction using a modified QuEChERS protocol. A total of 173 pesticide residues were detected. Of the fruit samples, 62.57% had pesticide residues at or above 0.01 mg/kg, and 4.67% exceeded the maximum residue limits (MRLs) set by the Serbian regulation. MRL values were most often exceeded in pomegranate and citrus fruits (grapefruit and mandarin). The most frequently found pesticide was imazalil (detected in 624 samples, 28.84%), with the highest concentration (93.870 mg/kg) found in a grapefruit sample. Multiple pesticides were detected in 50.92% of the fruit samples, and two grapefruit samples contained up to 44 pesticide residues.