A Successful Collaborative Research Project: Determining the Effects of Delayed Castration on Beef Cattle Production and Carcass Traits and Consumer Acceptability

A cooperative, on-ranch study was conducted to determine the effect of time of castration on ADG, carcass characteristics, and consumer preference. Sixty-five bull calves were randomly assigned to three treatments: early castrates (E), weaned castrates (W) and late castrates (L). Results indicated no differences between treatments for ADG, backfat, ending live weight, hot carcass weight, or dressing percentage. Ribeye area and cutability were higher for the L, and marbling score and yield grade were lower for L. Consumer panelists who ate beef regularly identified E as more tender, juicy, and flavorful and had better overall acceptability than W or L

Effectiveness of a national quality improvement programme to improve survival after emergency abdominal surgery (EPOCH): a stepped-wedge cluster-randomised trial

Background: Emergency abdominal surgery is associated with poor patient outcomes. We studied the effectiveness of a national quality improvement (QI) programme to implement a care pathway to improve survival for these patients. Methods: We did a stepped-wedge cluster-randomised trial of patients aged 40 years or older undergoing emergency open major abdominal surgery. Eligible UK National Health Service (NHS) hospitals (those that had an emergency general surgical service, a substantial volume of emergency abdominal surgery cases, and contributed data to the National Emergency Laparotomy Audit) were organised into 15 geographical clusters and commenced the QI programme in a random order, based on a computer-generated random sequence, over an 85-week period with one geographical cluster commencing the intervention every 5 weeks from the second to the 16th time period. Patients were masked to the study group, but it was not possible to mask hospital staff or investigators. The primary outcome measure was mortality within 90 days of surgery. Analyses were done on an intention-to-treat basis. This study is registered with the ISRCTN registry, number ISRCTN80682973. Findings: Treatment took place between March 3, 2014, and Oct 19, 2015. 22 754 patients were assessed for elegibility. Of 15 873 eligible patients from 93 NHS hospitals, primary outcome data were analysed for 8482 patients in the usual care group and 7374 in the QI group. Eight patients in the usual care group and nine patients in the QI group were not included in the analysis because of missing primary outcome data. The primary outcome of 90-day mortality occurred in 1210 (16%) patients in the QI group compared with 1393 (16%) patients in the usual care group (HR 1·11, 0·96–1·28). Interpretation: No survival benefit was observed from this QI programme to implement a care pathway for patients undergoing emergency abdominal surgery. Future QI programmes should ensure that teams have both the time and resources needed to improve patient care. Funding: National Institute for Health Research Health Services and Delivery Research Programme

Effectiveness of a national quality improvement programme to improve survival after emergency abdominal surgery (EPOCH): a stepped-wedge cluster-randomised trial

BACKGROUND: Emergency abdominal surgery is associated with poor patient outcomes. We studied the effectiveness of a national quality improvement (QI) programme to implement a care pathway to improve survival for these patients. METHODS: We did a stepped-wedge cluster-randomised trial of patients aged 40 years or older undergoing emergency open major abdominal surgery. Eligible UK National Health Service (NHS) hospitals (those that had an emergency general surgical service, a substantial volume of emergency abdominal surgery cases, and contributed data to the National Emergency Laparotomy Audit) were organised into 15 geographical clusters and commenced the QI programme in a random order, based on a computer-generated random sequence, over an 85-week period with one geographical cluster commencing the intervention every 5 weeks from the second to the 16th time period. Patients were masked to the study group, but it was not possible to mask hospital staff or investigators. The primary outcome measure was mortality within 90 days of surgery. Analyses were done on an intention-to-treat basis. This study is registered with the ISRCTN registry, number ISRCTN80682973. FINDINGS: Treatment took place between March 3, 2014, and Oct 19, 2015. 22 754 patients were assessed for elegibility. Of 15 873 eligible patients from 93 NHS hospitals, primary outcome data were analysed for 8482 patients in the usual care group and 7374 in the QI group. Eight patients in the usual care group and nine patients in the QI group were not included in the analysis because of missing primary outcome data. The primary outcome of 90-day mortality occurred in 1210 (16%) patients in the QI group compared with 1393 (16%) patients in the usual care group (HR 1·11, 0·96-1·28). INTERPRETATION: No survival benefit was observed from this QI programme to implement a care pathway for patients undergoing emergency abdominal surgery. Future QI programmes should ensure that teams have both the time and resources needed to improve patient care. FUNDING: National Institute for Health Research Health Services and Delivery Research Programme

Color: Its Basis and Importance

Meat color is the primary criterion by which consumers evaluate meat quality and acceptability. Consumers prefer bright-red fresh meats, brown or gray-colored cooked meats and pink cured meats. Any deviations may result in reduced sales, consumer complaints and returned products. The relatively short shelf-life of fresh meats is the single greatest concern to retail meat markets. When brown metmyoglobin reaches 30–40% of total pigments on the surface of fresh retail beef, consumers make a nopurchase decision (Greene et al., 1971). It is estimated that 4–10% of retail meats are either discounted, processed into hamburger, or even discarded due to brown-color development. Efforts continue to extend fresh meat color stability through improved sanitation and antimicrobial treatments, temperature control, packaging, and also through diet modification and improved breeding and handling of live animals

Comparison of Antioxidant Effects of Milk Mineral, Butylated Hydroxytoluene and Sodium Tripolyphosphate in Raw and Cooked Ground Pork

The antioxidant effects of 0.5–2.0% milk mineral (MM) was tested in raw and cooked ground pork stored at 2 °C or −20 °C, compared to butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) and sodium tripolyphosphate (STP). TBA numbers were low and not different between raw meat treatments. TBA numbers were lower (P\u3c0.01) for cooked treatments with MM or STP compared to controls or treatments with BHT. Experiments were also done to determine acceptability of pork samples with various TBA values, and to determine effect of holding time before serving on TBA values. Cooked pork patties held at 71 °C for 90 or 120 min had higher (P\u3c0.05) TBA values than patties held for 0–60 min. Thus patties could be warmed for 60 min after cooking without significantly increasing TBA number. For paired-preference sensory testing, patties were cooked and stored at 2 °C for 0, 1, 2 and 3 days to obtain TBA numbers of 0.4, 1.5, 3.4 and 3.9 respectively. Panelists preferred (P\u3c0.001) patties with TBA number \u3c0.5, compared to patties with TBA numbers \u3e1.4

Comparison of Spice-Derived Antioxidants and Metal Chelators on Fresh Beef Color Stability

Effects of Type I antioxidants eugenol and rosmarinic acid were compared to those of Type II antioxidants milk mineral (MM), sodium tripolyphosphpate (STPP), and phytate in raw ground beef held for 14 days at 4 degrees C in oxygen-permeable polyvinylchloride. Meat color stability was measured as % oxymyoglobin, Hunter a * value, chroma, and hue angle. Significant correlations (P\u3c0.0001) were observed between all color measurement methods. By day 14, STPP-treated patties lost more red color (P\u3c0.05 for a* and hue angle) and had higher thiobarbituric acid values than other treatments. By day 14, MM was as effective as eugenol and rosmarinate at preventing oxymyoglobin oxidation (72, 76, and 71% retained, respectively) and red color loss as measured by a * (9.2, 9.4, and 10.9), hue angle (58.4, 56.2, and 53.5), and chroma (17, 17, and 18), but was unable to inhibit microbial growth as effectively as the spice-derived antioxidants