In this review, the principles and usage of NIRS are described, emphasizing the importance of portable NIRS as a rapid analysis system in the meat industry. The miniaturized and portable NIRS instruments offer a great potential for on-site monitoring quality control not only in the meat sector but also all other food and agro-industries. The mobility of these devices, enabling in situ, robust, on-site, and product-to-product on-line inspection and control, are their major advantages. The emergence of miniature and portable NIRS systems allows establishment of rapid protocols, which might increase rigorous quality control, implying that food quality can be routinely monitored along the entire logistic chain. For meat-value chain, the possibility to implement portable NIRS systems at any point along the logistic chain could dramatically reduce the number of serious scandals related to meat quality and safety. Conversely, results obtained with these instruments are unrealistic in some applications, stressing the need for more applications with diversity in sample presentation and measurement techniques. This will lead to improvements in their performance and help to establish more robust models. In the near future, these devices might stand as promising alternatives to large, expensive, and benchtop types in food analysis, inspection, and control.

The camel milk (CM) industry has witnessed a notable expansion in recent years. This expansion is primarily driven by the rising demand for CM and its fermented products. The perceived health and nutritional benefits of these products are mainly responsible for their increasing popularity. The composition of CM can vary significantly due to various factors, including the breed of the camel, its age, the stage of lactation, region, and season. CM contains several beneficial substances, including antimicrobial agents, such as lactoferrin, lysozyme, immunoglobulin G, lactoperoxidase, and N-acetyl-D-glucosaminidase, which protect it from contamination by spoilage and pathogenic bacteria, and contribute to its longer shelf life compared to bovine milk (BM). Nevertheless, certain harmful bacteria, such as Listeria monocytogenes, Yersinia enterocolitica, and Escherichia coli, have been detected in CM, which is a significant public health concern. Therefore, it is crucial to understand and monitor the microbial profile of CM and follow good manufacturing practices to guarantee its safety and quality. This review article explores various aspects of CM, including the types of beneficial and harmful bacteria present in it, the composition of the milk, its antimicrobial properties, its shelf life, and the production of fermented CM products.

Listeria monocytogenes is among the most food-borne pathogens. It has the ability to grow over a range of temperature, including refrigeration temperature. Foods kept in refrigerator more than the prescribed period of time create an opportunity for the occurrence of Listeria monocytogenes. As this review shows, the prevalence of L. monocytogenes has more likely evident in pasteurized milk than other dairy products, such as raw milk. Inadequate temperature and faults in technology during pasteurization can be the disposing factors for the presence of the organism in dairy products. The organism, on the other hand, has been found to be resistant to those commonly known antibiotics that have human and veterinary importance, namely, ampicillin, Tetracycline, and chloramphenicol, streptomycin, erytromycin, penicillin G., and others. Resistance ability of the organism can be mediated by different natural and acquired resistance mechanisms, such as self-transferrable plasmids, mobilizable plasmids, and conjugative transposons. The emergence and spread of antibiotic resistance of L. monocytogenes has serious public health and economic impacts at large. This paper has reviewed the prevalence and the antibiotic resistance of L. monocytogenes isolates of dairy products and the strategic mechanisms of the organism develop resistance against the antibiotics.

Food safety is a scientific discipline to ensure consumers’ safety and prevent food-related harms, hazards, or risks along the entire food supply chain. Although fish and seafood products are the best means for securing food and nutrition in a population, they are also highly perishable, being vulnerable to pathogenic bacteria and fungi. This review thus aimed to provide updated scientific information on the role of the phenolic compounds of Spirulina as food additives, and their antimicrobial activities in fish and seafood products, in a food safety context. Recent applications of Spirulina phenolic compounds showed good results in contaminated fish and seafood products. Different studies have concluded that Spirulina phenolic compounds such as polyphenols, C-phycocyanin, γ-linolenic acid, fatty acids, and the combination of lauric and palmitoleic acids have antimicrobial activity in eliminating and/or controlling the growth of pathogenic bacteria such as Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Bacillus subtilis, and fungi such as Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus niger. Overall, Spirulina can be considered as an emerging natural food additive with antimicrobial activities against pathogenic fungi and bacteria.

Different types of dried meat products manufactured by different drying and curing methods are very common and well-known with a long history all over the world. Samarella (tsamarella) is one of these products and is famous among traditionally produced meat products in Cypriot gastronomy. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of oregano essential oil (OEO) and aqueous oregano infusion (AOI) applications on the microbiological properties of samarella. In order to carry out this study, traditional methods were followed for experimental production of samarella. As a result of this study, five percent OEO application was found to be more effective to reduce microbiological counts but this ratio of OEO application was not accepted by panelists. According to all microbiological results correlated with the sensorial scores, it is concluded that one percent OEO application can be used for samarella production as an alternative preservative method.