Harvesting of white hop shoots might be justified if they can be shown to be beneficial to human health. The aim of the present study is to determine the effects of hop cultivars and year of production on total phenolics, antioxidant potential, microelements and pesticide residues. Biomass per plant was highly variable among the cultivars (3.1-7.1 g dry mass per plant) and depended on hop cultivar and year (2009-2011). Total phenolics as chlorogenic acid equivalents (CAE) on dry mass basis varied from 0.60 to 1.80 mg/g, and showed significant effects across hop cultivar and year. The radical scavenging activities of the samples collected in years 2010-2012 ranged from 11 to 19 μg CAE. Ferric reducing activity was <0.01, with significantly different effects across hop cultivars (pC≤0.05) and year (py≤0.05) observed only in 2012. Traces of microelements and potentially active compounds from the use of pesticides in white hop shoots of Humulus lupulus ‘Dana’ were analysed. The content of zinc in the hop shoots on dry mass basis was very low (4 mg/kg), and it was below the limit of detection in the soil. The content of copper in the hop shoots was also very low (2.3 mg/kg), while in the soil it was below the critical emission (100 vs 300 mg/kg, respectively). All 182 active ingredients from the residues of the previously used pesticides were below the limits of detection. It can be concluded that these white hop shoots are better antioxidants than hop cones and hop leaves, and that they do not contain any pesticide residues.

The nutritional value of three muscles (Longissimus lumborum, Biceps femoris and Triceps brahii) sampled from six horses of breed Posavec and two meat products were determined by the physicochemical, instrumental and sensory analysis. The basic chemical composition (water, fat, protein and ash content as well as fatty acid profile) and the pH value on raw muscles and two meat products were analysed. Horse meat steaks of 2.5 cm thickness were thermally treated on a double hot-plate grill at a temperature of 220 °C to the internal temperature of 65 °C. Sensory evaluation of the heat-treated samples and meat products were followed by quantitative descriptive analysis using a structured scale. The instrumental measurements of colour (CIE L*, a*, b*) and texture (shear force on muscles and the Texture Profile Analysis test on products) were carried out. On average, 100 grams of meat contains 72.44 ± 1.94 g of water, 1.96 ± 2.33 g of fat, 21.52 ± 1.30 g of proteins, and 1.02 ± 0.06 g of ash, and pH value of 5.64 ± 0.05. Horse meat express an extremely beneficial fatty acid composition (containing 37.8 wt. % of saturated, 36.8 wt. % of monounsaturated and 17.6 wt. % of polyunsaturated fatty acids), the P/S ratio of 0.5 and the n-6/n-3 ratio of 3.6. The tenderer texture is found in the Longissimus lumborum muscle, followed by the Triceps brahii muscle and the Biceps femoris muscle. The colour is defined by the low L* value and high a* and b* values in comparison with the meat of other animals. On average, 100 g of horse hot dog contains 56.27 ± 0.82 g of water, 25.48 ± 0.85 g of fat, 14.04 ± 0.73 g of proteins, 2.47 ± 0.28 g of ash, and pH value of 6.23 ± 0.06, the P/S ratio of 0.5 and the n-6/n-3 ratio of 2.2. On average, 100 g of Posavska sausage contains 55.93 ± 1.28 g of water, 22.13 ± 2.56 g of fat, 18.52 ± 0.97 g of proteins, 3.01 ± 0.09 g of ash, and pH value of 6.16 ± 0.09, the P/S ratio of 0.5 and the n-6/n-3 ratio of 5.8. The panel assessed both products as good with specific characteristic due to the presence of horse meat.