Publications by authors named "Sebastiana Failla"

Food quality is a crucial issue for producers and consumers, either dealing with commodities according to basic standards or with top quality products. Among the parameters contributing to quality, the place of origin is considered to be one of the most relevant, especially for protected denomination of origin and protected geographical indication foods, PDO and PGI, respectively. These labels have been designed by the EU to protect and valorise high quality foodstuff produced in limited areas and to ensure higher incomes to farmers.

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Article Synopsis
  • This study explored how diets including extruded linseed and algae extract impact female rabbits' reproductive performance, milk production, and gut health.
  • Thirty-six New Zealand White rabbits were split into three groups: a control group on a standard diet, a group receiving 5% linseed, and a group receiving 5% linseed plus 0.2% algae extract.
  • Results showed no major dietary impacts on feed intake, body weight, or gastrointestinal health, but there was a significant reduction in perinatal and pre-weaning mortality linked to the omega-3 enriched diets, suggesting potential benefits that warrant further investigation.
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This research communication reports concentrations of two sialic acids (SA), -acetylneuraminic (Neu5Ac) and -glycolylneuraminic (Neu5Gc), in fresh milk from different cow breeds throughout lactation. According to published studies, the two SA types found in animal-derived products have diverse and conflicting effects on human health, but SA content is not routinely analysed in individual milk cows samples. We measured the content of Neu5Ac and Neu5Gc in milk from Holstein Friesian (HO), Simmental (SM), Simmental × Holstein crossbred (SM×HO), and Podolica (POD) cows at 60 and 120 d following calving.

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In organic poultry production it is important to rear animals with a dynamic attitude to take advantage of outdoor areas. Farmers are reluctant to use such strains due to their lower productivity and older slaughtering age. However, fast growing lines grown in organic system often suffer poor health and welfare conditions.

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Objective: This work was carried out to evaluate the effect of pasture (PA) feeding on buffalo meat quality compared with buffaloes reared intensively with the use of corn silage as a forage base or alternatively with polyphite meadow hay (PH).

Methods: Thirty Mediterranean bull buffaloes were distributed into three experimental diet groups: maize silage (MS), PH, and PA. The animals were slaughtered at a live weight of 250 kg, and carcass and meat quality were evaluated.

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Research on fatty acids (FA) is important because their intake is related to human health. NIRS can be a useful tool to estimate the FA of beef but due to the high moisture and the high absorbance of water makes it difficult to calibrate the analyses. This work evaluated near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy as a tool to assess the total fatty acid composition and the phospholipid fraction of fatty acids of beef using freeze-dried meat.

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Silver eel samples, collected from the lagoons of Fogliano and Caprolace (Italy), were investigated for a broad range of contaminants (29 polychlorinated biphenyls, 9 polybrominated diphenyl ethers, 5 dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, 5 chlordanes, hexachlorobenzene, 3 hexachlorocyclohexane, and 5 metals). Concentrations of targeted compounds stand for a general low contamination pattern. Infestation by Anguillicola crassus and virus infections were also examined.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study focused on determining quality indicators for fat and low-fat raw ground beef by examining changes in various physicochemical and microbiological parameters during refrigerated storage.
  • The meat was stored in air-permeable film at different temperatures, and a specific level of spoilage was identified based on microbial counts, revealing correlations between microbial growth and certain quality indicators like water-holding capacity and color.
  • Two modeling approaches, including partial least squares regression and a square-root-type model, effectively predicted the microbiological status of the ground beef, indicating that both methods can be used to assess meat quality based on different input data.
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The current study examines the effect of different finishing diets (hay- vs. maize-silage on meal ration) on carcass quality, physical, chemical and sensory properties, and fatty acid profiles of buffalo meat. Twenty male Italian Mediterranean buffaloes (246 ± 9.

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¹H-High resolution magic angle spinning-nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy was employed to gain the metabolic profile of longissimus dorsi and semitendinosus muscles of four different breeds: Chianina, Holstein Friesian, Maremmana and Buffalo. Principal component analysis, partial least squares projection to latent structure - discriminant analysis and orthogonal partial least squares projection to latent structure - discriminant analysis were used to build models capable of discriminating the muscle type according to the breed. Data analysis led to an excellent classification for Buffalo and Chianina, while for Holstein Friesian the separation was lower.

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In the present study we performed an integrated proteomics, interactomics and metabolomics analysis of Longissimus dorsi tender and tough meat samples from Chianina beef cattle. Results were statistically handled as to obtain Pearson's correlation coefficients of the results from Omics investigation in relation to canonical tenderness-related parameters, including Warner Bratzler shear force, myofibrillar degradation (at 48 h and 10 days after slaughter), sarcomere length and total collagen content. As a result, we could observe that the tender meat group was characterized by higher levels of glycolytic enzymes, which were over-phosphorylated and produced accumulation of glycolytic intermediates.

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Variations in texture were determined for 10 day aged raw and cooked Longissimus thoracis (LT) muscle from 436 bulls of 15 European cattle breeds slaughtered at an age of 13-16 months. Variations in texture were related to differences in pH 24 h post-mortem, sarcomere length, collagen characteristics and lipid content. The shear force of cooked meat samples varied from 43.

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