Quality refers to the characteristics of products that meet the demands and expectations of the end users. Beef quality is a convergence between product characteristics on one hand and consumers’ experiences and demands on the other. This paper reviews the formation of consumer beef quality perception, the main factors determining beef sensory quality, and how to measure and predict beef eating quality at scientific and industrial levels. Beef quality is of paramount importance to consumers since consumer perception of quality determines the decision to purchase and repeat the purchase. Consumer perception of beef quality undergoes a multi-step process at the time of purchase and consumption in order to achieve an overall value assessment. Beef quality perception is determined by a set of quality attributes, including intrinsic (appearance, safety, technological, sensory and nutritional characteristics, convenience) and extrinsic (price, image, livestock farming systems, commercial strategy, etc.) quality traits. The beef eating qualities that are the most valued by consumers are highly variable and depend mainly on the composition and characteristics of the original muscle and the post-mortem processes involved in the conversion of muscle into meat, the mechanisms of which are summarized in this review. Furthermore, in order to guarantee good quality beef for consumers in advance, the prediction of beef quality by combining different traits in scenarios where the animal, carcass, and muscle cuts can be evaluated is also discussed in the current review.

Surgical castration of piglets without pain relief is still common practice in many countries. Possible alternatives for surgical castration are application of pain relief or anaesthesia or production of boars (entire males) and immunocastrates. Each of these alternatives faces advantages and disadvantages which may result in different citizen attitudes and consumers acceptability. Understanding which practice is acceptable to whom and why may further stimulate implementation. Consumer (n = 3251) and stakeholder (n = 1027) attitudes towards surgical castration without pain relief, surgical castration with anaesthesia, immunocastration, and production of boars were surveyed from April to June 2020 via an online questionnaire in 16 countries (>175 respondents per country). Surgical castration without pain relief was separated from each of the alternatives due to animal welfare and showed the lowest acceptability (32%). Within the alternatives, a further partitioning between the alternatives was based on perceived quality and food safety, with an acceptance of 85% for applying anaesthesia, 71% for immunocastration, and 49% for boar production. Differences depending on professional involvement and familiarity with agriculture could be observed, mainly for the acceptance of surgical castration without anaesthesia, immunocastration, and boars. Castration with anaesthesia was highly accepted by all types of respondents.

Near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) is a promising new tool for quick and accurate bacterial quantification in water-rich samples like food. However, we still do not know what this spectroscopic method takes into account in order to measure bacterial counts at food safety limits. This study tries to identify which part of the bacterial culture has a more significant impact on spectral models for bacterial quantification in an aqueous environment. Two type strains of E. coli and S. aureus were evaluated, at a concentration range 0.1–8 log₁₀ CFU. Spectra from bacterial cells, separated by filtration, and extracellular metabolites were acquired separately and then combined in a reciprocal ratio in order to identify the spectral combination that would provide the best partial least squares quantification model for each strain. Spectral data were evaluated in the first wavelength overtone region of water 1300–1600 nm. The best model was achieved at a cells : extracellular metabolites spectral combination ratio of 40 : 60 for the E. coli strain and 20 : 80 for the S. aureus strain. While the best ratio was different for each species, extracellular metabolite spectra had a consistent significantly higher impact on PLS models. It can be concluded that species-specific extracellular metabolite spectra give more valuable information on bacterial quantification, and it is the spectral detection of changes in extracellular water conformations, due to extracellular bacterial metabolites, that represents the most significant factor for successful bacterial quantification. Finding out that bacteria influence the water matrix is an important step in understanding the mechanism of NIRS detection of low bacterial concentrations.

This study aimed to investigate near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) in combination with classification methods for the discrimination of fresh and once- or twice-freeze–thawed fish. An experiment was carried out with common carp (Cyprinus carpio). From each fish, test pieces were cut from the dorsal and ventral regions and measured from the skin side as fresh, after single freezing at minus 18 °C for 15 ÷ 28 days and 15 ÷ 21 days for the second freezing after the freeze–thawing cycle. NIRS measurements were performed via a NIRQuest 512 spectrometer at the region of 900–1700 nm in Reflection mode. The Pirouette 4.5 software was used for data processing. SIMCA and PLS-DA models were developed for classification, and their performance was estimated using the F1 score and total accuracy. The predictive power of each model was evaluated for fish samples in the fresh, single-freezing, and second-freezing classes. Additionally, aquagrams were calculated. Differences in the spectra between fresh and frozen samples were observed. They might be assigned mainly to the O–H and N–H bands. The aquagrams confirmed changes in water organization in the fish samples due to freezing–thawing. The total accuracy of the SIMCA models for the dorsal samples was 98.23% for the calibration set and 90.55% for the validation set. For the ventral samples, respective values were 99.28 and 79.70%. Similar accuracy was found for the PLS-PA models. The NIR spectroscopy and tested classification methods have a potential for nondestructively discriminating fresh from frozen–thawed fish in as methods to protect against fish meat food fraud.

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The chemical composition of ethanol extracts from wild and cultivated Bulgarian white oregano (Origanum heracleoticum L.) was determined. It was found that the aromatic compounds are the dominant group in the extracts of wild and cultivated white oregano – 89.75% in both extracts. The main components are carvacrol (70.97%) in the extract of wild oregano and carvacrol (60.47%) and thymol (8.55%) in the extract of cultivated oregano. The antimicrobial activity of aromatic products of Bulgarian white oregano was studied. The antimicrobial activity of the essential oils and ethanol extracts of oregano was determined against bacteria, which are found to be human pathogenic or food spoilage microorganisms – Staphylococcus aureus, Listeria monocytogenes and Escherichia coli ATCC 25922. Both the essential oils and the extracts showed antimicrobial activity against the tested microorganisms, more significant in the wild species, probably due to the high content of carvacrol. Gram-negative bacteria Escherichia coli showed resistance to the extracts, but were affected by the essential oils, the diameters of the zones of inhibition being comparable to those of the antibiotics Gentamicin and Tobradex. The results obtained suggest a potential application of these oils in preventing human pathogenesis and food spoilage due to microorganism growth.