In industry, antioxidants are added to prevent changes that affect quality due to oxidation, such as the development of off flavors, unacceptable odors and discoloration. New resources that are familiar to consumers and may work as antioxidants should be studied. The changes in antioxidant activity were determined for four freeze-dried native wild berry powder species in Utah, including skunkbush (Rhus trilobata), chokecherry (Prunus virginiana), river hawthorn (Crataegus douglasii) and silver buffaloberry (Shepherdia argentea), during cold storage (-20 °C) for 6 months. The total antioxidant activity was stable in most of the berry powders during the six months of frozen storage. Overall the river hawthorn and buffaloberry contained the highest antioxidant activity values, which indicated that they would be more efficient for use as food antioxidants. The effectiveness of two different levels of native Utah river hawthorn and buffaloberry freeze-dried powders in maintaining the quality of ground poultry and ground beef was studied. Meat patties mixed with berry powders were held at 4 °C and analyzed every three days for two weeks. The river hawthorn berry and silver buffaloberry delayed the undesirable changes in flavor or color caused by the oxygen present in the air in both chicken and beef ground patties. However, the plant pigments in the silver buffaloberry increased the redness of chicken patties. Neither berry significantly changed the color of ground beef patties or changed the microbial growth in ground meats. Overall, both river hawthorn and buffaloberry are suitable for using in ground beef product as antioxidants. Milk mineral and sodium tripolyphosphate are antioxidants that could bind free metal ions into insoluble or inactive forms. They can delay the changes of the meat pigment and maintain color in meat products. The purpose of the third study was to examine the effect antioxidants on meat pigment.pH describes the amounts of acid in food. Slowed color changes in the poultry meat pigment with antioxidants was seen both at the pH of living poultry muscle (7.2) and the pH of raw poultry meat (pH 6.0). This suggested that addition of metal-binding antioxidants like milk mineral or sodium tripolyphosphate could help preserve poultry meat pigment and maintain the color of poultry products.

While the presence of ≥1% of an undeclared species in ground meat generally used as an indicator of intentional mislabeling as opposed to cross-contamination, the actual percent of undeclared species resulting from cross-contamination has not been experimentally determined. The objective of this study was to quantify the effect of sanitation procedures on the crosscontamination of animal species in ground meat products, using undeclared pork in ground beef. Pork (13.6 kg) was processed using a commercial grinder, then one of three sanitation treatments was completed (“no cleaning”, “partial cleaning”, or “complete cleaning”). Next, beef (13.6 kg) was ground using the same equipment. For “no cleaning,” beef was ground immediately after pork without any cleaning step; for “partial cleaning,” the hopper tray was wiped, and excess meat was taken out from the auger; for “complete cleaning,” all parts of the grinder were disassembled and thoroughly cleaned with water and soap. A 100-g sample was collected for each 0.91 kg (2 lb) of beef processed with the grinder and each sanitation treatment was tested twice. Real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to quantify pork in ground beef. For “no cleaning,” the first 100-g sample of ground beef run through the grinder contained 24.42 ± 10.41% pork, while subsequent samples contained

Mislabeling of ground meat products is a form of food fraud that can lead to economic deception and interfere with dietary restrictions related to allergens or religious beliefs. In various parts of the world, including Ireland, Mexico and Turkey, high levels of meat mislabeling have been reported between 2000-2015. However, there is currently a lack of information regarding this practice in the United States. Therefore, the objective of this study was to test a variety of ground meat products sold on the U.S. commercial market for the presence of potential mislabeling. Forty-eight ground meat samples were purchased from online and local retail sources, including both supermarkets and specialty meat retailers. DNA was extracted from each sample in duplicate and tested using DNA barcoding of the cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) gene. The resulting sequences were identified at the species level using the Barcode of Life Database (BOLD). Any samples that failed DNA barcoding went through repeat extraction and sequencing. Due to the possibility of a species mixture, these samples were also tested with real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) targeting beef, chicken, lamb, turkey, pork and horse. Of the 48 products analyzed in this study, 10 were found to be mislabeled, with nine containing multiple meat species. Meat samples purchased from online specialty meat distributors had a higher rate of being mislabeled (35%) compared to samples purchased from a local butcher (18%) and samples purchased at local vii supermarkets (5.8%). Horsemeat, which is illegal to sell on the U.S. commercial market, was detected in two of the samples acquired from online specialty meat distributors. Overall, the mislabeling detected in this study appears to be due to reasons such as intentional mixing of lower-cost meat species into higher cost products or unintentional mixing of meat species due to cross-contamination during processing.