Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

Minutes of July 24, 2009 meeting not available.

1) Poultry Meat Safety USDA-ARS (GA) determined that bacterial contamination of processed poultry can be reduced by successive washings mixtures of potassium hydroxide and lauric acid. They also determined the presence of Campylobacter spp. in the reproductive tract, lymphoid organs, liver/gallbladder and ceca of commercial Leghorn laying hens, the species of Campylobacter present, and the antibiotic resistance patterns of the Campylobacter isolates. An isolated a marker Campylobacter coli strain resistant to gentamicin through antibiotic screening of 2,073 poultry carcass rinse isolates. FSIS (carcass rinse) and EU (neck skin sample) methods for carcass sampling were compared for Salmonella prevalence detection and found to be comparable. A quail embryo bioassay to detect biologically active botulinum toxin serotype A (BoNT/A) was developed. The LD50 for day 15 quail embryos is approximately 0.2 ng BoNT/embryo (28 ¼g BoNT/kg of body weight). Injection of day 15 quail embryos with BoNT restricted aircell and eggshell pipping initiating morbidity and nonviable status enabling preemptive euthanasia. Canada reported work on bioluminescent strain of Salmonella into tumbled chicken breast meat. Florida and USDA-ARS (GA) used nisin, rosemary and EDTA to slow the growth of Listeria monocytogenes on ready- to-eat turkey ham stored at 4°C for 63 days. All nisin treatments resulted in at least 3.73 log cfu/g reductions in Listeria monocytogenes. EDTA and rosemary treatments alone and in combination had limited inhibition properties on L. monocytogenes. EDTA treatments resulted in significant reductions (P < 0.05) in lactic acid organisms during storage. Turkey ham treated with EDTA alone or in combination with nisin and/or rosemary had higher pH values than all other treatments by day. Indiana has developed an in-package ozonation process at Purdue University which can produce bacteria killing molecules (ozone, nitrous oxide, hydrogen peroxide) inside a sealed package. This process requires minimal energy (30-40 W) and produces no heat. Joint research at Purdue and Clemson is (SC) underway treating poultry meat and food contact surfaces with this technology. South Carolina is studying freeze-thaw inactivation of Listeria on RTE meats. The surface freezing rate in-package pasteurization was determined for bologna. When using freeze/thaw cycles of 11/3 s, respectively, the difference between 1 and 3, as well as 1 and 5 cycles, was significant. The bacterial reduction with 3 and 5 cycles did not differ. Likewise, the differences between 1, 3 and 5 cycles in the second experiment (Table 2) were all significant. However, none of the reductions was greater than 1 log, which is not useful from a practical standpoint. The maximum log reduction was 0.72 when using 5 cycles, 55 s for freezing, and 15 s for thawing. Figure 1 shows that, in general, log reductions using 55 and 15 s are greater than the ones obtained with 11 and 3 s of freezing and thawing, respectively. These results, though not of practical significance, indicate that longer and/or additional freeze/thaw cycles may have greater reductions having practical significance. 2) Poultry Meat Quality Wisconsin has elucidated mechanisms by which lipid oxidation occurs in various muscle food-based systems including those from poultry meat. We have determined the efficacy of various antioxidant strategies as well as elucidated mechanisms by which antioxidants function in muscle foods. A method to non-invasively measure lipid oxidation products was also described. Studies were conducted to determine the effect of salt addition and storage time on the generation of the pink color defect in uncured, cooked, ground turkey. Results found that early salt addition and storage prior to heat processing increased redness. A model was developed to test naturally occurring pink color in contrast to inducing a pink color as a means to test various non-pink generating ligands to control the pink defect. Turkey breast trim from different anatomical locations was collected and characterized to determine if location influenced the pink color generation. Location did not influence the presence of the pink defect. Georgia found organically produced carcasses were spoiled at their sell-by date with a spoilage bacterial count of >8 log10 cfu/mL. Chickens reared without antibiotics on all vegetable diets produced carcasses with significantly higher (P=0.026) E. coli counts (average of 1.76); however, these carcasses also had the lowest average APCs (average 5.99). It is possible that, because no antibiotics were used during growout, the potential for E. coli infections that cause air sacculitis and inflammatory process (IP) in these groups is increased. Interestingly, the chickens reared free range, organically with no antibiotics had significantly higher (P=0.0065) spoilage bacterial counts (8.32), but EC were fairly low (0.76). Georgia also studied breast striations and narrowed down the cause to a lack of vitamins and minerals during the last two weeks of growout, or hypertrophic growth of the breast muscles. This research is essential because companies in Brazil have already had product rejected due to this condition. Canada investigated the effects of non-meat proteins on improving the texture of poultry meat products and ways to reduce the impact of PSE meat during further processing. California used tomato pomace as a feed for poultry because prior results indicated that ±-tocopherol (vitamin E) in this agricultural byproduct could prevent lipid deterioration in processed, cooked, and/or stored broiler meat products. Tomato pomace, waste from processing, is composed of peels, cores, cull, trimmings, seeds, liquor and unprocessed green fruit. Along with ±-tocopherol, pomace contains cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin, detrimental to feed conversion ratios for broilers. Thus, work was conducted to find ways to biodegrade complex carbohydrates in pomace with the white rot and nontoxic fungus, Pleurotus ostreatus, while retaining ±-tocopherol. Results showed that greater than 50% of the antioxidant was retained in pomace after sterilization and treatment with P. ostreatus. In another study, tomato pomace was amended without and with 487¼M Mn/g substrate followed by treatment with the fungus. In treated substrate without Mn, cellulose and hemicellulose were reduced; but lignin was not. Mn inhibited fungal growth and did not degrade lignin. It was important to know if Mn affected the O2 consumption rate and CO2 evolution rate of P. ostreatus. Results indicated that Mn at the level used did not delay peak and cumulative CO2 rates; however, it probably reduced the metabolic activity of P. ostreatus. Future research on the use of treated tomato pomace as an ingredient in diets and source of ±-tocopherol in poultry meat will examine (1) lower levels of Mn and (2) use of P. ostreatus in conditions with much greater than the 20% oxygen, employed in previous studies. Work will begin to determine the use of tomato pomace as a non-feed removal alternative for laying hens and a source of antioxidants in eggs. Florida evaluated celery powder extract as a natural curing agent alternative in processed poultry products. The storage stability of celery powder extract and a turkey bologna product manufactured with celery powder extract was evaluated. Four products were manufactured containing either 0.2%, 0.3% or 0.4% celery extract or 156 ppm commercial sodium nitrite contained in Modern Cure®. Residual nitrite was significantly higher for the product containing the commercial sodium nitrite blend when compared to all products containing celery powder extract. The L* values were lower and a* values were higher for the product manufactured with commercial sodium nitrite blend when compared to all products containing celery powder extract. Preliminary data has revealed that the anti-botulinal properties of the celery powder at the manufacturers recommended usage level might be minimal when compared to the commercial sodium nitrite blend. All findings reported in this report are preliminary and will be repeated. New York continues to work on issues related to religious slaughter. The main effort is educational with respect to incorporating good animal welfare. South Carolina is evaluating recovery of carnosine from poultry by-products. Chicken brain was found to be the richest source (0.61gm/100gm) of carnosine followed by breast (0.54gm/100gm) and gizzard (0.54gm/100gm), while tail (0.15gm/100gm) was the least available source, and the heart showed no carnosine presence. Metal chelating activity tests showed that head extracts gave 32.29 % metal chelating activity followed by tail 28.77%. Preliminary studies conducted on muscle extracts found metal chelating activity for breast of 32.24% while in thigh, 14.95 % and the results were consistent with previous studies. The total antioxidant activity in the linoleic acid emulsion system (20mM linoleate) to which 11mg/ml of freeze dried extract was added, was 50.4% for breast and 33.1% in thigh, whereas that of pure carnosine was 76% after 48 hours in linoleate emulsion system. Arkansas and Alabama collaborated on the effect of white striping on the histological and meat quality characteristics of broiler fillets. Broiler breast fillets are sometimes characterized grossly by white parallel striations in the direction of the muscle fibers. The present study is intended to evaluate the histological characteristics of this white striping and to assess whether the condition is influencing the meat quality characteristics of the meat. The examination of the histological slides under microscope showed a condition of myopathy with degenerative changes. Males had a greater percentage of meat with white striping compared to females. Strain also impacted the incidence of striping varying from 41 to 72% in this study. Fillets characterized by white striping had higher RTC weights and larger fillets (dimensions). Muscle pH, color, cook loss and MORS energy were not significantly affected by the striping condition. Arkansas evaluated the impact of phase-feeding and strain on meat quality, fillet dimensions, and yield of broilers in small bird or big bird market programs. In the small bird program, diet, strain and gender had little impact on fillet yield. Strain, gender, and debone hour had significant effect on fillet dimensions. Strain and PF treatment did not affect pH, color, cook loss or MORS. In the big bird program, there were no differences in tenderness due to strain at 2 h PM, but differences due to strain were observed at 4 and 6 h PM. There was some variation in color due to strain, but there was no difference in cook loss due to strain at any deboning time. Fillets of males had significantly higher MORS energy (tougher) when deboned at 2, 4, and 6 h PM than those of females. Phase-feeding had little impact on fillet yield or dimensions; however, uniformity was either maintained or improved the incorporation of PF regimen. Strain impacted fillet yield and fillet thickness. Fillet dimensions were affected by deboning time in each trial. Deboning at 2 or 4 h PM resulted in narrower fillets that were also thicker due to sarcomere shortening compared to fillets deboned at 6 h PM. Arkansas evaluated the effect of marination on the tenderness of broiler breast fillets deboned at various times. Overall, marinated fillets had lower cook loss than non-marinated fillets. As deboning time increased, the cook loss significantly decreased in the non-marinated fillets, but there were no differences in cook loss of the marinated fillets due to deboning time. Marination improved tenderness as indicated by the marinated fillets having significantly lower MORS energy values compared to non-marinated fillets at each deboning time. Furthermore, deboning at 2.5 h PM or after followed by marination resulted in similar MORS energy as deboning at 4 or 8 h PM without marination. Arkansas, Alabama and Texas (Texas Tech) collaborated to conduct two industry workshops: Poultry 101 and Poultry 201. Poultry 101 covers the production and processing factors that impact final product quality, safety and consistency. Poultry 201 covers the technical aspects of marination, and batter and breading of poultry products. Both workshops include lectures and hands-on laboratories. Arkanasas, Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, New York, South Carolina, and Texas collaborated on revision of Poultry Meat Processing. The 2nd Edition is currently in press and is a publication of Taylor and Francis/CRC Press. 2) Egg Safety and Quality USDA-ARS (GA) determined that eggs from hens housed in cage and cage-free (all wire slats or shavings) systems all had higher levels of eggshell aerobic bacteria when housed in the same room. However, when all hens were moved to cages without the presence of litter and with manure removal three-time weekly, all eggs were cleaner both before and after washing. Following egg washing there were no significant differences detected in eggshell bacteria levels recovered among the housing systems. USDA-ARS (GA) also determined that eggshell sanitation reduces the level of bacteria recovered from the eggshell surface recovered in a rinse but not the level of bacteria recovered in an eggshell/membranes crush-and-rub rinse. Alabama, North Carolina, South Carolina and Texas collaborated to deliver the 2008 National Egg Products School was held in November in Auburn, AL. The school offered hands on laboratory experiences to assist participants in understanding the functionality characteristics of egg products. The 2008 school had faculty from Auburn University, North Carolina State University, and the University of Arkansas. The National Egg Products School Advisory board is made up of representatives from industry, trade organizations, government and academia.