Uncle George

Every evening when Uncle George walks into the house, before he greets any member of the family, he yells, O-oh, Pepper! O-oh, Ginger! and if Pepper and her puppy aren\u27t already scampering down the stairs, or from the living room, they come now. Pepper stands on her hind legs and leans her forepaws on him while she nuzzles in his pockets for peanuts. Ginger dances around him, making funny noises which sometimes terminate in a short bark. He picks the little dog up and feeds both him and Pepper a few peanuts or bites of candy that he has brought for them

Sensory optimisation of salt-reduced corned beef for different consumer segments

peer-reviewedThe study objectives were to determine assessors' (n = 256) preference for corned beef, produced with sequential reductions in NaCl concentrations and to determine if preference was affected by assessor age. The use of a salt replacer such as potassium lactate was also assessed. The youngest age cohort disliked samples containing the highest level of NaCl, whereas the oldest age cohort did not detect differences between samples. The most negatively perceived sample was the control, suggesting that NaCl levels added to commercial corned beef are currently too high for consumer acceptance. All age cohorts, with the exception of the 65–74 age cohort, accepted corned beef samples possessing NaCl levels closest to the FSAI target (1.63 g/100 g). No major sensory differences were noted between samples with and without potassium lactate by the ≥65 age cohort. Potassium lactate may be added to corned beef without affecting sensory attributes, whilst enhancing nutritional content. Assessors of varying age groups have differing preferences for certain NaCl levels and salt replacers

Impact on the physical and sensory properties of salt-and fat-reduced traditional Irish breakfast sausages on various age cohorts acceptance

peer-reviewedThe properties of varying salt and fat levels in traditional breakfast sausages were investigated. Sausages were produced with fat levels of: 30%, 20% and 15%. Fat was replaced with pea extract. Salt levels employed were: 2.5%, 1.1% and 0.0%. A reduced sodium salt which contains 45% less sodium than standard salt was used. Sensory analysis was conducted on consumers (n = 228): 18–40 yrs., 41–64 yrs. and 65–85 yrs. The 18–40 yr. olds preferred sausages containing 20% fat, 41–64 yr. olds preferred sausages with 15% fat, 65+ age group preferred sausages containing 30% fat. The 18–40 yr. olds preferred high salt samples, 41–64 yr. olds displayed no salt preference, while the 65+ age group preferred high salt sausages. Sausage formulation choice was found to be driven by texture for the younger age cohort, flavour for the middle age cohort and visual aspects from the oldest age cohort. There is a need to understand how meat products might be reformulated different age palates

Transcriptome analysis of porcine M. semimembranosus divergent in intramuscular fat as a consequence of dietary protein restriction

peer-reviewedBackground: Intramuscular fat (IMF) content is positively correlated with aspects of pork palatability, including flavour, juiciness and overall acceptability. The ratio of energy to protein in the finishing diet of growing pigs can impact on IMF content with consequences for pork quality. The objective of this study was to compare gene expression profiles of Musculus semimembranosus (SM) of animals divergent for IMF as a consequence of protein dietary restriction in an isocaloric diet. The animal model was derived through the imposition of low or high protein diets during the finisher stage in Duroc gilts. RNA was extracted from post mortem SM tissue, processed and hybridised to Affymetrix porcine GeneChip® arrays. Results: IMF content of SM muscle was increased on the low protein diet (3.60 ± 0.38% versus 1.92 ± 0.35%). Backfat depth was also greater in animals on the low protein diet, and average daily gain and feed conversion ratio were lower, but muscle depth, protein content and moisture content were not affected. A total of 542 annotated genes were differentially expressed (DE) between animals on low and high protein diets, with 351 down-regulated and 191 up-regulated on the low protein diet. Transcript differences were validated for a subset of DE genes by qPCR. Alterations in functions related to cell cycle, muscle growth, extracellular matrix organisation, collagen development, lipogenesis and lipolysis, were observed. Expression of adipokines including LEP, TNFα and HIF1α were increased and the hypoxic stress response was induced. Many of the identified transcriptomic responses have also been observed in genetic and fetal programming models of differential IMF accumulation, indicating they may be robust biological indicators of IMF content. Conclusion: An extensive perturbation of overall energy metabolism in muscle occurs in response to protein restriction. A low protein diet can modulate IMF content of the SM by altering gene pathways involved in lipid biosynthesis and degradation; however this nutritional challenge negatively impacts protein synthesis pathways, with potential consequences for growth.Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Ireland - Food Institutional Research Measur

Impact on the physicochemical and sensory properties of salt reduced corned beef formulated with and without the use of salt replacers

peer-reviewedThe aim of this study was to investigate physicochemical and microbiological properties as well as a sensory (affective and descriptive) driven sodium reduction (0.2 g/100 g - 1.0 g/100 g product) strategy for a cured meat product (corned beef). A second aim was to use the same methodology to further reduce salt, using salt replacers. Significant differences in colour, hardness and cooking loss were measured. Corned beef samples low in sodium (0.2 g/100 g, 0.4 g/100 g) showed reduced (P  0.05) to liking of flavour and overall acceptability. Samples formulated with CaCl2, MgCl2 and KCl scored higher (P  0.05) to liking of flavour and overall acceptability. However, a sodium reduction in corned beef was determined to be achievable as assessors liked (P < 0.05) the flavour of the sodium reduced corned beef containing 0.4 g/100 g sodium and formulated with potassium lactate and glycine (KLG), even with the noticeable lower salty taste. Sodium reduction in corned beef (packaged under modified atmosphere) did not negatively impact on the microbiological shelf-life.This study was funded by the Irish Food Industry Research Measure (FIRM) as part of the project titled “PROSSLOW; Development of assessor accepted low salt and low fat Irish traditional processed meat (Ref: 11 F 026)”

Regulatory polymorphisms in the bovine Ankyrin 1 gene promoter are associated with tenderness and intramuscular fat content

peer-reviewedRecent QTL and gene expression studies have highlighted ankyrins as positional and functional candidate genes for meat quality. Our objective was to characterise the promoter region of the bovine ankyrin 1 gene and to test polymorphisms for association with sensory and technological meat quality measures. Results Seven novel promoter SNPs were identified in a 1.11 kb region of the ankyrin 1 promoter in Angus, Charolais and Limousin bulls (n = 15 per breed) as well as 141 crossbred beef animals for which meat quality data was available. Eighteen haplotypes were inferred with significant breed variation in haplotype frequencies. The five most frequent SNPs and the four most frequent haplotypes were subsequently tested for association with sensory and technological measures of meat quality in the crossbred population. SNP1, SNP3 and SNP4 (which were subsequently designated regulatory SNPs) and SNP5 were associated with traits that contribute to sensorial and technological measurements of tenderness and texture; Haplotype 1 and haplotype 4 were oppositely correlated with traits contributing to tenderness (P < 0.05). While no single SNP was associated with intramuscular fat (IMF), a clear association with increased IMF and juiciness was observed for haplotype 2. Conclusion The conclusion from this study is that alleles defining haplotypes 2 and 4 could usefully contribute to marker SNP panels used to select individuals with improved IMF/juiciness or tenderness in a genome-assisted selection framework.Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Ireland, through the Food Institutional Research Measur

Genome-wide association analysis and functional annotation of positional candidate genes for feed conversion efficiency and growth rate in pigs

This project has received funding from the European Union‘s Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological development and demonstration as part of the ECO-FCE project under grant agreement No. 311794.peer-reviewedFeed conversion efficiency is a measure of how well an animal converts feed into live weight and it is typically expressed as feed conversion ratio (FCR). FCR and related traits like growth rate (e.g. days to 110 kg—D110) are of high interest for animal breeders, farmers and society due to implications on animal performance, feeding costs and environmental sustainability. The objective of this study was to identify genomic regions associated with FCR and D110 in pigs. A total of 952 terminal line boars, showing an individual variation in FCR, were genotyped using 60K SNP-Chips. Markers were tested for associations with estimated breeding values (EBV) for FCR and D110. For FCR, the largest number of associated SNPs was located on chromosomes 4 (30 SNPs), 1 (25 SNPs), X (15 SNPs) and 6 (12 SNPs). The most prominent genomic regions for D110 were identified on chromosomes 15 (10 SNPs), 1 and 4 (both 9 SNPs). The most significantly associated SNPs for FCR and D110 mapped 129.8 Kb from METTL11B (chromosome 4) and 32Kb from MBD5 (chromosome 15), respectively. A list of positional genes, closest to significantly associated SNPs, was used to identify enriched pathways and biological functions related to the QTL for both traits. A number of candidate genes were significantly overrepresented in pathways of immune cell trafficking, lymphoid tissue structure, organ morphology, endocrine system function, lipid metabolism, and energy production. After resequencing the coding region of selected positional and functional candidate genes, six SNPs were genotyped in a subset of boars. SNPs in PRKDC, SELL, NR2E1 and AKRIC3 showed significant associations with EBVs for FCR/D110. The study revealed a number of chromosomal regions and candidate genes affecting FCR/D110 and pointed to corresponding biological pathways related to lipid metabolism, olfactory reception, and also immunological status.This project has received funding from the European Union‘s Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological development and demonstration as part of the ECO-FCE project under grant agreement No. 311794

Sensory capability of young, middle-aged and elderly Irish assessors to identify beef steaks of varying texture

This study assessed the capability of various Irish assessor age cohorts to identify beef steaks of varying texture. Varying steak textures Moderately Tough (MTH), Moderately Tender (MTR) and Tender (TR) were achieved by aging beef longissimus thoracis et lumborum (LTL) muscle for 2, 7 and 21 days respectively. Warner Bratzler Shear Force (WBSF) was measured to standardise the samples. Sensory evaluation was carried using 428 participants; 18–30 yrs. (years) (n = 143), 31–60 yrs. (n = 80), 61-75 yrs. (n = 99) and 76–85 yrs. old (n = 106). Within 6 age cohort categories (18–70), significant positive and negative correlations were observed for TR and MTH tenderness categories respectively. Poor identification of tenderness classification was found in the 71–85 age cohort groupings. Consequently more research is required in this area so that guidelines could be presented for industrial uptake. This study supports the hypothesis that changes in textural perception occur with age in humans

Optimising the acceptability of reduced-salt ham with flavourings using a mixture design

peer-reviewedThe objective of this study was to optimise the acceptability of reduced-salt cooked ham containing a mixture of glycine and yeast extract as flavourings by using response surface methodology. Twelve different formulations were prepared with varying levels of salt and the two flavourings, according to a mixture design. The sensory properties were assessed along with the instrumental texture and colour. A multiple factor analysis showed that higher scores in tenderness, saltiness and juiciness were positively correlated, whereas instrumental hardness and chewiness were negatively correlated with acceptability. Response surface plots and optimisation software allowed the inference of two optimised formulations: HO1 with 1.3% salt and yeast extract content of 0.33%; and HO2 with 1.27% salt, 0.2% yeast extract and 0.16% glycine. A panel of 100 consumers found no significant differences in overall acceptability when both were compared to a control (1.63% salt). These results show it is possible to manufacture consumer accepted cooked ham with up to 20% salt reduction.This work was supported by the Food Institutional Research Measure (FIRM) of the Irish Department of Food, Agriculture and the Marine as part of the project titled “PROSSLOW; Development of consumer accepted low salt and low fat Irish traditional processed meat (Ref: 11F 026)”

Comparative Proteomic Profiling of Divergent Phenotypes for Water Holding Capacity across the Post Mortem Ageing Period in Porcine Muscle Exudate

peer-reviewedTwo dimensional Difference Gel Electrophoresis (2-D DIGE) and mass spectrometry were applied to investigate the changes in metabolic proteins that occur over a seven day (day 1, 3 and 7) post mortem ageing period in porcine centrifugal exudate from divergent meat quality phenotypes. The objectives of the research were to enhance our understanding of the phenotype (water holding capacity) and search for biomarkers of this economically significant pork quality attribute. Major changes in protein abundance across nine phenotype-by-time conditions were observed. Proteomic patterns were dominated by post mortem ageing timepoint. Using a machine learning algorithm (l1-regularized logistic regression), a model was derived with the ability to discriminate between high drip and low drip phenotypes using a subset of 25 proteins with an accuracy of 63%. Models discriminating between divergent phenotypes with accuracy of 72% and 73% were also derived comparing respectively, high drip plus intermediate phenotype (considered as one phenotype) versus low drip and comparing low drip plus intermediate phenotype (considered as one phenotype) versus high drip. In all comparisons, the general classes of discriminatory proteins identified include metabolic enzymes, stress response, transport and structural proteins. In this research we have enhanced our understanding of the protein related processes underpinning this phenotype and provided strong data to work toward development of protein biomarkers for water holding capacity.This research was funded through the Irish National Development Plan through the Food Institutional Research Measure of the Department of Food Agriculture and the Marine, Project 06RDNUIG470