Assessing levels of traditionality and naturalness depicted on labels of fermented meat products in the retail: Exploring relations with price, quality and branding strategy.

Food labelling is a tool to inform consumers about the specifications and characteristics of a product. Additionally, labels display information about traditionality and naturalness, of which the meaning is highly subjective. There is a paucity of research examining attributes both of tradition and naturalness.

Exploring the Link Between the Geographical Origin of European Fermented Foods and the Diversity of Their Bacterial Communities: The Case of Fermented Meats.

European fermented meat products are prepared according to a wide variety of different recipes and processing conditions, which can influence their fermentative microbiota. However, due to the diverse processing conditions applied across Europe, it remained unclear to which degree bacterial heterogeneity can be encountered in commercially available fermented meat products and whether this is linked to their geographical origin. Therefore, the bacterial species diversity of 80 fermented meat products available in the Belgian retail, coming from five different countries, was investigated.

The application of selected ion flow tube-mass spectrometry to follow volatile formation in modified-atmosphere-packaged cooked ham.

Cooked pork products, i.e., sliced cooked hams maintained under modified-atmosphere-packaging (MAP), were analysed both microbiologically and with respect to volatile levels during storage.

Monitoring of volatile production in cooked poultry products using selected ion flow tube-mass spectrometry.

Cooked poultry products are nutritious and economically valuable products that are at risk of bacterial spoilage, which can be postponed by cooling and modified-atmosphere-packaging (MAP). In this study, a cooked chicken product was stored at three different temperature ranges (4-6 °C, 7-9 °C, and 11-13 °C) and volatile production was measured over time using selected ion flow tube-mass spectrometry (SIFT-MS). The identities of the volatiles formed were confirmed by headspace solid-phase microextraction coupled with gas chromatography time-of-flight mass spectrometry (HS-SPME-GC-TOF-MS) analysis.

Mapping the dominant microbial species diversity at expiration date of raw meat and processed meats from equine origin, an underexplored meat ecosystem, in the Belgian retail.

Although equine meats and their derived smoked or fermented products are popular in some regions of the world, they only form a minor fraction of the global meat consumption. The latter may explain why their associated bacterial communities have not received much attention. In the present study, 69 different samples of equine meats and meat products were investigated.

Variability within the dominant microbiota of sliced cooked poultry products at expiration date in the Belgian retail.

Sliced cooked poultry products are susceptible to bacterial spoilage, notwithstanding their storage under modified-atmosphere packaging (MAP) in the cold chain. Although the prevailing bacterial communities are known to be mostly consisting of lactic acid bacteria (LAB), more information is needed about the potential variation in species diversity within national markets. In the present study, a total of 42 different samples of sliced cooked poultry products were collected in the Belgian retail and their bacterial communities were analysed at expiration date.

Diversity of the dominant bacterial species on sliced cooked pork products at expiration date in the Belgian retail.

Pork-based cooked products, such as cooked hams, are economically valuable foods that are vulnerable to bacterial spoilage, even when applying cooling and modified atmosphere packaging (MAP). Besides a common presence of Brochothrix thermosphacta, their microbiota are usually dominated by lactic acid bacteria (LAB). Yet, the exact LAB species diversity can differ considerably among products.