Dioxin and dioxin-like compounds are persistent organic pollutants that received considerable attention in recent years due to their high potential toxicity, wide distribution and extreme stability. Polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs) and polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs) mainly occur in the environment as a result of several human activities including combustion, incineration and many other industrial activities, whereas polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) congeners were intentionally manufactured and widely used in various fields. Since dioxin and dioxin-like compounds are found in various environmental compartments (air, water, soil, sludge, sediment, food, feed, blood, animal and human tissues), humans could be exposed to them via inhalation, dermal contact or food ingestion. However, 90% of human exposure to dioxin is through food ingestion particularly foods from animals and foods that are rich in fat. In contrast, only low levels have been found in food items of plant origin. Exposure to dioxin compounds is associated with various adverse health problems. However, their toxicity varies dramatically according to the type of dioxin, species of exposed organism, as well as exposure frequency and duration. Dioxins are mainly determined by instrumental chromatographic methods such as GC-HRMS and GC–MS/MS. Many efforts have been made to remove, reduce and prevent these hazardous substances from the environment. However, the best method for reducing human exposure to dioxins and dioxin-like compounds is controlling and minimizing their production. In this article, structures, sources, exposure, toxicity and analysis methods of dioxin and dioxin-like compounds in meat and other foods were reviewed.

This paper gives an overview of scientific challenges that may occur while performing modelling meat (as a product) and simulating mastication by using engineering tools. To evaluate these challenges, Failure Mode and Effect Analysis method has been employed to assess six engineering tools often used in analyzing different perspectives of food oral processing. As a result, a risk priority number comprising of severity of the failure, occurrence probability of a failure and difficulty to detect the failure has been calculated. Results show that finite element method and emotion detection are two tools with highest levels of risks. The first method is a known engineering solution used for analyzing different types of materials, but when it comes to meat as a very complex and anisotropic material, risk of inadequate calculations is high. Emotion detection is not so much dependent on meat as a product consumed but on imperfections of software and risk of recognizing false emotions is high. Findings indicate that more research is needed for a more sophisticated use of these engineering tools. Further studies should include other engineering models that simulate meat breakdown during mastication, the role of saliva and jaw movement with the aim to carry out full modelling of mastication of an average meat consumer.

Meat tenderness is recognized as the most important quality characteristic determining consumer acceptability of fresh meat and meat products. Therefore, the development of effective methods for meat tenderization is a topical direction. The review considers the main aspects of the development of shockwave (SW) technology as an alternative method for meat tenderization. The paper analyzes the means of shockwave formation as well as possible mechanisms responsible for meat tenderization caused by shockwave treatment and related to the energy dissipation and mechanical load on the boundary zones of a biological material under processing. The results of the investigations of a shockwave effect on meat tenderness, microbial inactivation, structure and assimilability of muscle protein and other functional and technological properties of a product are presented. The majority of researchers who studied a SW effect on meat tenderization showed different degrees of the improvement in the Warner-Bratzler shear force and increase in sensory scores of meat tenderness. This review shows the main problems linked with commercialization of the meat treatment process using SW based on electrical discharges under water. This method of SW generation is considered safest but infeasible today due to occurrence of restrictions such as damage of packaging materials after treatment, a need to ensure effective SW propagation in a commercial unit and determine optimal treatment parameters in the process of shockwave tenderization. Furthermore, potential possibilities of using shockwave technologies in the food industry are discussed. In particular, shockwave treatment upon extraction is an effective method for extracting juice/ oil/ bioactive components from various plant materials, which can be used as the pretreatment or independent process.

In the present article the authors consider the importance of issue of the poultry meat quality. The increasing demand for poultry meat provides for the rapid growth of industrial stock of poultry, which contributes to appearance of meat with various defects in muscle tissue: PSE meat, that features low pH, pale color, soft and watery texture, and DFD meat — it is more dense and drier, of dark saturated color. Till now, the causes and mechanisms of appearance of those anomalies still haven’t been unambiguously formulated, however, a large number of publications prove the influence of the genetic characteristics of modern crosses of broilers and turkeys on disturbances in Ca²⁺ metabolism process in the sarcoplasm of muscle fibers. The uncontrolled release of calcium along with the high temperature of slaughtered poultry carcasses immediately after slaughter provokes an intense decrease in pH and launches denaturation processes in proteins. The numerous studies have shown deterioration in functional and technological properties of meat in stress-sensitive poultry, such as moisture-binding capacity and high acidity, which increases loss of meat juice during its storage and its weight during heat treatment. Recent publications have been devoted to development of a strategy for use of PSE poultry meat and search for efficient processing of PSE poultry meat, since the scientific community does not provide direct evidence on possibility of genetic adjustment of the poultry in order to exclude the occurrence of PSE quality of meat.

In this article, the proteomic profiles of pork by-products (snout, tongue, liver, kidney, spleen) were studied by comparative method on the first day and the fifth day of their storage. Two-dimensional electrophoresis according to O’Farrell was used for the aims of this article, while the results were further processed in ImageMaster software. Proteomic maps of by-products showed clear changes in protein composition after visualization and images analysis. There was a decrease and increase in manifestation intensity of some proteins. The study of the obtained electrophoregrams with the help of references resources allowed identifying various compounds in the by-products. 9 protein fractions with various intensity of manifestation were found on the day 1^st and 5^th. On the 1^st day the following substances were intensively manifested: in the liver — glutathione peroxidase 4 (22.3 kDa), LEAP-2 (8.8 kDa); in the kidneys — quinone oxidoreductase (34.9 kDa); in the spleen — glycoprotein CD59 (13.7 kDa), in the patch — protein flint (49.07 kDa). It is noted that these proteins play their role in stopping certain processes in cells, like oxidation, microbial activity, and accumulation of toxic substances. These processes can worsen the quality of raw materials, and further lead to spoilage of the food product. On the 5^th day of storage the highest intensity of manifestation of glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (35.8 kDa) in the liver was observed; superoxide dismutase [Cu-Zn] (15.8 kDa) was noted in the kidneys, colony-stimulating factor (16.2 kDa) was observed in the spleen and glutaredoxin –1 (11.8 kDa) in the tongue. In its turn, on the fifth day these chemical processes manifested themselves more intensely, as the fatty acids and glucose broke down. To obtain more accurate results, the proteins were compared by their volume. Among the identified fractions the highest expression was observed in LEAP 2 (8.8 kDa) on the first day, and in glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (35.8 kDa) on the fifth day. The least change in the intensity of manifestation was noted for superoxide dismutase [Cu-Zn] (15.8 kDa), which volume increased during storage by 13% for 5 days. The analysis of the obtained electrophoregrams allowed identifying various compounds, tracing the changes in the qualitative composition of protein in by-products during various periods of their storage. The obtained data demonstrate the transformation of protein molecules during storage, which makes it possible to determine the changes and quality of the food products.

The use of nonparametric methods in scientific research provides a number of advantages. The most important of these advantages are versatility and a wide range of such methods. There are no strong assumptions associated with nonparametric tests, which means that there is little chance of assumptions being violated, i. e. the result is reliable and valid. Nonparametric tests are widely used because they may be applied to experiments for which it is not possible to obtain quantitative indicators (descriptive studies) and to small samples. The second part of the article describes nonparametric goodness-of-fit tests, i. e. Pearson’s test, Kolmogorov test, as well as tests for homogeneity, i. e. chi-squared test and Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. Chi-squared test is based on a comparison between the empirical (experimental) frequencies of the indicator under study and the theoretical frequencies of the normal distribution. Kolmogorov-Smirnov test is based on the same principle as Pearson’s chi-squared test, but involves comparing the accumulated frequencies of the experimental and theoretical distributions. Pearson’s chi-squared test and Kolmogorov test may also be used to compare two empirical distributions for the significance of differences between them. Kolmogorov test based on the accumulation of empirical frequencies is more sensitive to differences and captures those subtle nuances that are not available in Pearson’s chi-squared test. Typical errors in the application of these tests are analyzed. Examples are given, and step-by-step application of each test is described. With nonparametric methods, researcher receives a working tool for statistical analysis of the results.

In the current circumstances, trends in nutrition of a person striving to lead a healthy life-style require intake of meat products with the reduced energy value, minimal amounts of fat, increased protein mass fraction, presence of substances improving homeostasis of the body. The synergism of the modern nutrition science and meat industry enables creating food products that satisfy consumers’ demand. Today, in the Russian Federation, a theoretical and practical base of the technology development has been collected to the full extent in the field of rational processing of secondary raw materials in the food industry, optimal use of animal secondary raw materials, study of the protein ingredients of animal and plant origin and their deep scientifically substantiated processing, improvement of technological processes and equipment, and correspondently, product range extension. The paper broadens the information about the modified collagen-containing raw materials (cattle rumen), examines physico-chemical characteristics of the collagen-containing raw material and its changes in the process of freeze-drying with a special attention paid to the study of changes in the histological structure. The presence of the relatively uniform fibrillar structure was determined, which facilitated discovering the functional potential of proteinoids that form the fibrillar matrix in the composition of products from different groups. Analysis of IR-spectra revealed several significant absorption bands linked with the state of peptide bonds. The character of bands is linked with the complex of valence and deformation vibrations of the N- and С- types. It is believed that IR-spectra reflect conformations in the protein secondary structure, which suggests preserving properties of the tropocollagen particle or collagen molecule. Freeze-dried modified collagen-containing cattle rumen was tested by the example of jellies. The obtained databank broadens information about physico-chemical properties of modified collagen-containing raw materials (cattle rumen).

This article analyses the nutritional value of meat pate produced with the addition of meat-and-bone paste obtained from chicken bones. In the test samples of the pate, 20% of the poultry meat was replaced with the meat-and-bone paste. The comparative characteristic of the chemical, amino acid, fatty acid and mineral compositions of meat pate is given in the article. The comparative analysis of the nutritional value of meat pate showed that the addition of meat-and-bone paste decreases the moisture content by 0.23%, fat content by 1.22%, and increased the protein content (by 0.52%). In the test sample of the product the proportion of minerals increased significantly from 1.3% to 2.23% compared to the control sample. In terms of amino acid composition, the addition of meat-andbone paste up to 20% instead of poultry meat significantly increases the content of amino acids like isoleucine (from 196 mg/100 g to 661 mg/100 g), leucine (from 807 mg/100 g to 1083 mg/100 g), threonine (from 454 mg/100 g to 610 mg/100 g). The test samples of pate, compared with the control samples, contain a higher amount of monounsaturated (MUFA) and polyunsaturated (PUFA) fatty acids, including oleic (39.698%) and linoleic (21.546%) acids. The content of the saturated fatty acids (SFA) in the control sample are 37.8%, in the test sample it accounts to 32.9%. According to the mineral composition: the content of calcium is significantly increased in the test sample, (from 268.0 mg/100 g to 480.0 mg/100 g). In general, the addition of meat-and-bone paste made of chicken bones allows fortification the pate with the essential amino acids, mono- and polyunsaturated fatty acids and calcium.