The present study aimed to determinate beef meat shelf-life packaged in modified atmosphere (MAP). The experiment was carried out on young bulls Longissimus dorsii muscle and considered 2 thesis (meat portioned and conserved in MAP after 3 days “NA” and after 7 days “7A” of ageing), 2 types of packaging (with or without water absorbent pad) and 3 different conservation times (3, 7 or 11 days). The analysis regarded: water loss, colour, TBArs and protein ossidation. Liquid loss showed higher value in packaged meat with absorbent pad than the other (10.38% vs 2.42% P<0.001), while the evaporate liquid was highest in no absorbent pad samples. The positive effect of pad was found in metmyoglobin percentage (13.98 vs 15.10 % respectively for its presence and absence) and protein oxidation (67.32 vs 79.26 nmol thiol/mg protein P<0.05). TBArs increased with conservation times from 0.88 to 2.57 mg/100g, while it didn’t show differences between the two thesis and the two different packaging methods. In conclusion the use of absorbent pad improved meat nutritive quality despite produced more water loss

The aim was to investigate the effect of two different diets on buffalo meat aging. The trial was carried out on 14 male buffaloes subdivided in two groups. During the finishing period the first group was fed mainly on alfalfa hay (AH), while the second group on maize silage (MS). The animals were slaughtered at 16 months of age and at 3 hours from slaughter the longissimus thoracis muscle was removed and stored at 2+1 °C until 14 days, to evaluate the effect of aging times on meat quality. The animals fed on maize silage, because of thicker fat layer, showed slower temperature fall and faster pH fall (5.53 vs 5.56 respectively for MS vs AH on 48 hours). Shear force value was higher for the animals fed on alfalfa hay during whole aging period (from 5.78 kg to 3.32 kg for AH and from 4.70 kg to 2.63 kg for MS) and their meat showed lower lightness particularly at 48 hours from slaughter (39.0 vs 41.2) and higher percentage of oxymyoglobin. Diet affect on aging performances, particularly for tenderness and also if the MS meat showed lower shear force it appeared more degraded and not very bright

Tenderness is the most important characteristic to define acceptability of products by consumers. In this paper three different methods, Calcium infusion (Ca), Very Fast Chilling (VFC) and pelvic suspension hanging from aitch bone (PS) or the Achilles tendon (AT) are applied in pre-rigor phase on Maremmana meat. Ca injection has reported the lowest shear force on cooked meat compared to control group (5.09 vs. 16.33 kg) instead VFC group has underlined intermediate values. Pelvic hanging has shown significant difference on shear force and sarcomere length on Longissimus thoracis muscle (4.13 vs. 8.11 kg and 1.63 and 2.04 μm respectively for WBS and sarcomere length in PS and AT); further in Biceps femoralis we have found a lowest collagen content (4.33 vs. 4.79 g/100 g for PS and AT). In conclusion these methods could influence tenderization processes even if some processes, that could lower the effect of these practices, are still unclear

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