The Implications of COVID-19 on Chinese Consumer Preferences for Lamb Meat

This study assessed if Chinese consumer attitudes towards a range of lamb attributes (such as origin, food safety, appearance, taste, price), and their opinions of New Zealand lamb (9- and 7-point Likert scales, respectively), had changed since the outbreak COVID-19. The same survey was carried out in Shanghai and Beijing pre (December 2018) and post COVID-19 (November 2020), ~9 months after China’s initial outbreak, with 500 and 523 consumers, respectively. From December 2018 to November 2020, there was an increase in the proportion of Chinese consumers purchasing red meat online or from a butcher, and cooking their lamb well-done. In contrast, there were minimal differences in Chinese consumer ratings between December 2018 and November 2020 for different lamb attributes and opinions of New Zealand lamb. Cluster analysis revealed that many consumers (140 in December 2018/376 in November 2020) used only a small portion of the high end of the scale when rating lamb attributes, resulting in little differences between the attributes. This study suggests COVID-19 has enhanced some food safety related behaviors but had little effect on Chinese opinions and preferences for New Zealand lamb attributes. It also highlights that survey design should be carefully considered when collecting responses from Chinese consumers.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Active Packaging for the Extended Shelf-Life of Meat: Perspectives from Consumption Habits, Market Requirements and Packaging Practices in China and New Zealand

Active packaging (AP) has been developed to improve the safety, quality and integrity of food, and minimise food waste, while its application in meat is scarce. This review aims to describe meat production and consumption culture in China and New Zealand to provide the context for packaging innovation requirements, focusing on the emerging opportunities for AP to be used for the improvement of the shelf-life of pre-rigor, aged, and frozen-thawed meat products. Sustainable polymers utilised in the manufacturing of AP, manufacturing techniques, the release mechanisms of actives, and legal and regulatory constraints are also discussed. Diverse market compositions and consumption cultures in China and New Zealand require different packaging solutions to extend the shelf-life of meat. AP containing antimicrobials, moisture regulating agents, and antioxidants may be used for pre-rigor, dry- and wet-aged products and in improving the quality and shelf-life of frozen-thawed meat. Further innovations using sustainably produced polymers for AP, along with incorporating active compounds of multiple functions for effectively improving meat quality and shelf-life are necessary. Challenges remain to resolve issues with scaling the technology to commercially relevant volumes as well as complying with the rigorous legal and regulatory constraints in various countries

Global Provisioning of Red Meat for Flexitarian Diets

Although not always labeled as such, flexitarianism is the default lifestyle for much of the world, whereby meals based on plant materials provide the bulk of people's calories. The rich nutrition of meat and animal products is often the lynchpin of these diets, even when only consumed occasionally. It provides forms and concentrations of essential proteins, lipids, and micronutrients that are otherwise scarce. However, the production of this meat is resource intensive. It requires large quantities of arable land and water, and typically has lower conversion efficiency of farm inputs to edible outputs compared with crops, poultry, aquaculture, dairy, and eggs. An additional complication is that the quantity of ancillary products produced during slaughterhouse operations is large and underutilized. Each year, approximately 190 million metric tons (MMT) of red meat, including pork, lamb, sheep, veal, beef, and goats are produced globally, half of which will be consumed by less than 25% of the population living in developed countries. With demand for meat expected to exceed 376 MMT by 2030, an increase in the adoption of plant-based diets presents an opportunity for the world to re-evaluate how meat can be sustainably produced, with greater emphasis on animal welfare, nutritional value, product safety, better utilization, and distribution channels. In this article we consider the role meat plays in the modern diet, its production and consumption, opportunities to improve utilization of the animal, the benefits of incorporating a diverse range of red meat into diets, and the strategies that the meat industry should consider in response to flexitarianism

Prevalence of pathogenic/likely pathogenic variants in the 24 cancer genes of the ACMG Secondary Findings v2.0 list in a large cancer cohort and ethnicity-matched controls

Abstract Background Prior research has established that the prevalence of pathogenic/likely pathogenic (P/LP) variants across all of the American College of Medical Genetics (ACMG) Secondary Findings (SF) genes is approximately 0.8–5%. We investigated the prevalence of P/LP variants in the 24 ACMG SF v2.0 cancer genes in a family-based cancer research cohort (n = 1173) and in cancer-free ethnicity-matched controls (n = 982). Methods We used InterVar to classify variants and subsequently conducted a manual review to further examine variants of unknown significance (VUS). Results In the 24 genes on the ACMG SF v2.0 list associated with a cancer phenotype, we observed 8 P/LP unique variants (8 individuals; 0.8%) in controls and 11 P/LP unique variants (14 individuals; 1.2%) in cases, a non-significant difference. We reviewed 115 VUS. The median estimated per-variant review time required was 30 min; the first variant within a gene took significantly (p = 0.0009) longer to review (median = 60 min) compared with subsequent variants (median = 30 min). The concordance rate was 83.3% for the variants examined by two reviewers. Conclusion The 115 VUS required database and literature review, a time- and labor-intensive process hampered by the difficulty in interpreting conflicting P/LP determinations. By rigorously investigating the 24 ACMG SF v2.0 cancer genes, our work establishes a benchmark P/LP variant prevalence rate in a familial cancer cohort and controls