Physical and Chemical Characteristics of Edible Offal from Free-Range Reared Swallow-Belly Mangalica Pigs

Physical (pH and L*a*b* values) and chemical (moisture, protein, total fat, total ash, K, P, Na, Mg, Ca, Zn, Fe, Cu, and Mn) characteristics of offal consisting of the tongue, heart, lungs, liver, spleen, kidney, brain, and spinal cord of free-range reared Swallow-Belly Mangalica pigs were determined. Many significant differences were found among mean values of quality traits. However, except for a few cases, the determined offal quality traits were in the characteristic ranges reported in the literature. Lungs were high in pH24h (P24h, moisture (P<0.01), and total ash concentration. The highest levels of protein (P<0.01), Mg, Fe (P<0.05), Zn (P<0.01), and Mn (P<0.01) and the lowest of Na were found in liver. The darkest colour (lowest L* value), highest concentration of K, the lowest concentration of total fat and Ca were found in spleen. Finally, spinal cord was the highest in total ash (P<0.01), P (P<0.01), and Ca (P<0.05) and the lowest in protein, Mg (P<0.05), Fe, and Zn (P<0.01) concentration

Improvement of Water Vapor Barrier Properties of Chitosan-Collagen Laminated Casings using Beeswax

Collagen casings are commercially used in sausage production. In this paper, collagen film that is used for sausage casings was laminated with chitosan film to produce barrier casing film. Chitosan coating was prepared by dissolving chitosan powder in 1% acetic acid. After dissolving chitosan, caraway essential oil, wetting agent Tween 20 and different amounts of beeswax, from 0 to 25 g were added to the solution. The solution was coated on collagen film surface in three layers, using a sponge brush to make laminated films. Films were air dried at temperature t = 23 °C ± 2 °C. Uncoated collagen film was used as reference. Film thickness, water vapor barrier properties and FTIR spectra were determined. With growing amount of beeswax added to the chitosan layer, film thickness grew from 112 µm for laminated film with 5 g of beeswax to 225 µm for film with 25 g of beeswax, compared to 83 µm for collagen film. Water vapor barrier properties improved with growing amount of beeswax in chitosan layer, ranging from 130.71 g/m224h for laminated film with added 5 g of beeswax to 66.96 g/m224h for the film with 25 g of beeswax, compared to 290.64 g/m224h for collagen film. Addition of beeswax showed great potential in lowering water vapor permeability of laminated collagen-chitosan film. FTIR spectra could be used to determine quantitative law dependency between added amount of beeswax and spectra absorption values,as well as to prove compactness of chitosan-beeswax layer

Improvement of water vapor barrier properties of chitosan-collagen laminated casings using beeswax

Collagen casings are commercially used in sausage production. In this paper, collagen film that is used for sausage casings was laminated with chitosan film to produce barrier casing film. Chitosan coating was prepared by dissolving chitosan powder in 1% acetic acid. After dissolving chitosan, caraway essential oil, wetting agent Tween 20 and different amounts of beeswax, from 0 to 25 g were added to the solution. The solution was coated on collagen film surface in three layers, using a sponge brush to make laminated films. Films were air dried at temperature t =23 °C ± 2 °C. Uncoated collagen film was used as reference. Film thickness, water vapor barrier properties and FTIR spectra were determined. With growing amount of beeswax added to the chitosan layer, film thickness grew from 112 µm for laminated film with 5 g of beeswax to 225 µm for film with 25 g of beeswax, compared to 83 µm for collagen film. Water vapor barrier properties improved with growing amount of beeswax in chitosan layer, ranging from 130.71 g/m2 24h for laminated film with added 5 g of beeswax to 66.96 g/m2 24h for the film with 25 g of beeswax, compared to 290.64 g/m2 24h for collagen film. Addition of beeswax showed great potential in lowering water vapor permeability of laminated collagen-chitosan film. FTIR spectra could be used to determine quantitative law dependency between added amount of beeswax and spectra absorption values,as well as to prove compactness of chitosan-beeswax layer

The first record of the Chinese pond mussel Sinanodonta woodiana (Lea, 1834) in Montenegro

Sinanodonta woodiana (Lea, 1834), Chinese pond mussel (Bivalvia: Unionoida: Unionidae) is one of the most invasive aquatic macroinvertebrate species found in Europe. We report the Chinese pond mussel for the first time in Montenegro, in August 2012, in Lake Šasko (Adriatic part of the Central Mediterranean subarea). One specimen of the Chinese pond mussel was observed in a habitat with a predominantly silt-clay substrate. The main pathway of species introduction was evaluated to be via fish stocking. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. III 43002 i br. ON 173025

Solvent-Free Preparation of Thermally Stable Poly(urethane-imide) Elastomers

Polyurethanes (PUs) are widely used in many applications due to their versatile chemical and physical properties. To meet the increasing demands on PU with respect to intrinsic mechanical and thermal properties, they can be modified with thermally stable aromatic imide structures to form poly(urethane imide) (PUI). However, the preparation of PUI materials has been limited by the need for strong polar solvents, which hinder their industrial scale development. In this work, we prepared imide-containing isocyanate-terminated prepolymers via the reaction of polymeric aromatic or aliphatic isocyanates and pyromellitic dianhydride in completely solvent-free conditions. The subsequent PUI elastomers made from these prepolymers exhibited enhanced char formation and stiffness in comparison to the reference elastomers without imide structures, among which the aromatic PUI elastomer shows improved flame retardancy according to the initial cone calorimetry measurement. This work demonstrates the potential use of imide prepolymers in other PU applications where high thermal stability and flame retardancy are required. The solvent-free synthesis also paves a way for the large-scale production of PUI materials

The first record of the Chinese pond mussel Sinanodonta woodiana (Lea, 1834) in Montenegro

Sinanodonta woodiana (Lea, 1834), Chinese pond mussel (Bivalvia: Unionoida: Unionidae) is one of the most invasive aquatic macroinvertebrate species found in Europe. We report the Chinese pond mussel for the first time in Montenegro, in August 2012, in Lake Šasko (Adriatic part of the Central Mediterranean subarea). One specimen of the Chinese pond mussel was observed in a habitat with a predominantly silt-clay substrate. The main pathway of species introduction was evaluated to be via fish stocking

Color measurement of animal source foods

Rapid and objective assessment of food color is necessary in quality control. The color evaluation of animal source foods using a computer vision system (CVS) and a traditional colorimeter is examined. With the same measurement conditions, color results deviated between these two approaches. The color returned by the CVS had a close resemblance to the perceived color of the animal source foods, whereas the colorimeter returned not typical colors. The effectiveness of the CVS is confirmed by the study results. Considering these data, it could be concluded that the colorimeter is not representative method for color analysis of animal source foods, therefore, the color read by the CVS seemed to be more similar to the real ones

Trace metals in soils and several brassicaceae plant species from serpentine sites of Serbia

Serpentine soils from 16 sample points in Serbia as well as the roots and shoots of eight Brassicaceae family species: Aethionema saxatile, Alyssum montanum, Alyssum repens, Cardamine plumieri, Erysimum linariifolium, Erysimum carniolicum, Isatis tinctoria, Rorippa lippizensis, were analyzed with regard to their concentrations of P, K, Fe, Ca, Mg, Ni, Zn, Mn, Cu, Cr, Cd, and Pb. Most of the soil samples were typical of ultramafic sites with low concentrations of P, K and Ca and high concentrations of Mg, Fe, Ni and Zn. Ca/Mg ratio was lt 1 in most soil samples and Brassicaceae plants. Only in A. montanum, A. repens, E. linariifolium and R. lippizensis was the Ca/Mg ratio >1. The levels of P, K, Fe and Zn were high, Mn and Cu occurred in low amounts, whereas Cr, Cd, Co and Pb were only traceable. In the roots and shoots of A. montanum and A. repens the measured concentrations of Ni were 657 mg kg(-1) and 676 mg kg(-1) respectively, which is the first instance that such high concentrations of Ni were detected in these two species

Determination of nickel content in the semimembranosus muscle of pigs produced in Vojvodina

The content of nickel was investigated in the M. semimembranosus of sixty-nine pigs from ten different genetic lines produced in Vojvodina. Nickel was determined by flame atomic absorption spectrometry after mineralization by dry ashing. The difference in the nickel content in the analyzed muscle tissues among different genetic lines of pigs was not significant (P &gt; 0.05). Nickel levels ranged from 12.93 to 80.18 μg/100 g, with a general average of 32.41 μg/100 g. The average level of nickel was found to be higher than the levels observed in pork in some developed countries