Browsing by Subject "meat"

This paper focuses on meat consumption patterns in Finland. Empirical analysis for this paper was based on the micro data of three Household Budget Surveys: 1998, 2006 and 2012. A censored linear approximation of the almost ideal demand system (LA-AIDS) model was employed in the study. The major outcomes of the study were the demand expenditure and price elasticities that were obtained from the parameter estimates of five different meat products. Since the data lacked price information, unit values were used as a price substitutes, which gave some insights into quality-quantity upgrading. According to the results, pork expenditure was elastic and thus was luxury good during the study period, whereas ruminant meat and poultry were luxuries only in 2000s. In addition, the price of a good, household size, and income had a large influence on meat consumption. Additionally, other factors (such as age) affected the portion of the budget that was allocated to meat products. In order to obtain more information relating to the food sector, further research concerning disaggregate demand would be needed.

The literature review of this thesis focuses on cooking loss and factors effecting it as well as low-temperature long-time (LTLT) cooking and how it effects meat. Reactions in meat during heating and their effects on meat products quality were also studied. The aim of the experimental research was to find the optimal strip size for one sous vide process to optimize cooking yield and sensory quality. To do so, pre-testing with several different strip sizes were performed and then one strip size was selected. With this strip size tests with 3 different meat types (chicken, pork and beef) were executed. The tests comprised 10 batches of around 100 kg of meat each type and both strip sizes totaling 60 batches with total weight around 7600 kg. The sensory evaluation was made with a panel of 15 workers from the company to determine if any changes occurred regarding the sensory quality. Every meat type was tasted and evaluated using a scale with a free line segment of 10 cm. The results were measured and the difference between the same type of samples were multiplied with 10 to achieve a difference measured in %-units. Every type of meat had higher cooking yield with larger strip size. Chicken improved the most, pork second and beef the least. The effects on sensory quality were moderate. Chicken and beef became less tender and pork improved, while juiciness of every type improved with bigger strip size. Chicken improved 31.9 %-units, pork 9.8 %-units and beef 6.7 %-units in cooking yield. Chicken overall acceptance seemed to have improved 0.3 %, pork 7.0 % and beef 1.7 % according the sensory evaluation.

Diarrheagenic Escherichia coli (DEC) can cause diarrheal disease in humans. Like commensal E. coli, DEC are present in the human and mammalian, especially ruminant, and avian gut. They can also be present in soil and water environments. The food of animal origin can act as a transmission vehicle to infect humans. Infection may also be gained by drinking water contaminated by animal or human feces. DEC can be devided into five pathogroups based on their virulence traits: enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC), enterotoxigenic E. coli (ETEC), enterohaemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC), enteroinvasive E. coli (EIEC) and enteroaggregative E. coli (EAEC). EPEC typically causes children’s diarrhea in developing countries. ETEC is a typical cause for tourist’s diarrhea and infantil diarrhoea in developing countries. EHEC causes bloody or non-bloody diarrhea that might lead to kidney dysfunction called hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) especially in young children. EIEC causes Shigella-like diarrhea which can be bloody. EAEC is mainly associated with prolonged diarrhea. This study was conducted to find out the prevalence of diarrheagenic E. coli in humans and food in Burkina Faso, on which there was no previous knowledge. Fecal samples were collected from children under five years of age suffering from diarrhea in two villages, Boromo and Gourcy, and in the capital Ouagadougou (110 samples). Raw meat samples (chicken, beef, mutton and bovine intestines used for human consumption) were collected from open markets in Ouagadougou (120 samples). Primary mixed bacterial cultures obtained from the samples were studied using multiplex PCR-method, which detects the virulence genes of the five pathogroups. In addition, 20 EHEC strains were isolated from meat samples using colony hybridization based on the detection of Shiga toxin gene stx and PCR-screening, and were characterized to reveal the possible virulence properties. The study demonstrated that DEC-infections in small children are common in Burkina Faso. Of the studied fecal samples, 59 % were positive for DEC. The most prevalent pathogroups were EAEC (32 %), ETEC (31 %) and EPEC (20 %). EIEC (2 %) and EHEC (1 %) were found only in a few samples. Mixed infections with more than one pathogroup were common (24 %). The difference in DEC prevalence between the different sampling locations was statistically significant. There were more DEC-infections in Gourcy than in Ouagadougou and Boromo. The study also showed that DEC occur commonly in raw meats sold at open markets in Ouagadougou. Of the studied meat samples, 43 % were positive for DEC. The most prevalent were EHEC (28 %), EPEC (20 %), ETEC (8 %) and EAEC (5 %). EIEC was not detected. Mixed contaminations with more than one pathogroup were relatively common (17 %) in meat. There was no statistical significance in DEC-prevalence between the different meats. When prevalence was considered by each pathogroup, EHEC was absent in chicken and the difference was statistically significant when compared to the other meats. The 20 EHEC strains isolated from the meat samples were grouped into 14 serotypes, some of which have previously been isolated from humans suffering from diarrheal disease and HUS. All the strains were positive for stx1 and half of them also for stx2, which is considered to be the more virulent form of Shiga toxin. Two EHEC strains were also positive for an ETEC-related gene of heat-stable enterotoxin Ia. Hence, the two strains were a mixture of two pathogroups and an evidence of gene transfer between different pathogroups. The youngest children do not consume meat but meat can be thought to represent a sample from their living environment, because food for children might be prepared in the same environment where raw meat products are handled. Thus contaminated meat can be a source of DEC-infections in little children.

Current diets with high meat consumption have several adverse effects on the environment and human health. Different alternative foods such as whole plant foods (WPFs), plant-based meat substitutes, and novel/future foods (NFFs) are potential options to reduce the environmental pressure caused by meat. The aim of this thesis was to study the effect of replacing meat with alternative foods on the climate impact, energy use, and nutrient intakes in Finnish diets. The study was carried out by formulating scenarios for the current diet using the National FinDiet2017 survey, in which all meat or half of meat was substituted with WPFs, PBMSs, and NFFs. The daily climate impact and energy use were the highest for the current diet while substituting meat with alternative foods reduced the climate impact by 13%−37% and energy use by 15%−40% from the current diet. The largest decrease in the environmental impacts was found when all meat was replaced, especially with WPFs. Moreover, a similar reduction of the climate impact and energy use was found for all alternative scenarios when the environmental impacts were integrated with nutritional properties by using the NRD index. Regarding nutrient intakes in Finnish diets, substituting meat resulted in several beneficial changes such as increased levels of folate and fiber or decreased levels of saturated fatty acid. On the other hand, full replacement of meat with plant-based alternatives led to decreased intake of some nutrients, such as vitamin B12. Even though some NFFs are still under development, this thesis showed that they may provide nutritious options in future diets. To conclude, replacing even half of the meat may be beneficial for improving nutrient intakes and reducing the environmental pressure in terms of lower climate impact and energy use.

This study's goal was to describe how parents talk to their children about meat and meat production. This topic is relevant because meat production and the ethics of eating meat are being widely discussed. People are also more distanced from food production than ever before so it is interesting to study how they relay information about it to their children. The research problem in this study was to recognize in which type of situation and by whose initiative discussion about meat took place, what topics they talked about and how parents reacted in those situations. In this study the parents' different ways of talking about meat with their children are being described. The study was conducted with a qualitative research approach. The data was collected with seven theme interviews from two fathers and five mothers of children aged 4–6. Before the interviews, the interviewees had read a book, Nakki lautasella (a children's non-fiction book about food and meat production), with or without their children. In the content analysis, open coding was done to the data and then the data was divided into themes and then re-connected. Five themes were derived, offering answers to the research questions. Almost all parents had discussed meat with their children in some way, but nobody had told them about meat production in detail. The discussions typically took place at the dining table and on the children's initiative. Parents' way of talking about this subject was to answer child's questions when they came. Topics that parents experienced difficult were ones such as animals welfare and the violent phases of meat production, like slaughtering. Parents avoided talking about these subjects or they answered with very simple answers. By their actions parents were trying to protect their children because they felt like these topics were inappropriate for children and that they would stick to their children's minds causing anxiety. However, I claim that parents felt uncomfortable discussing topics that challenged them selves to think about them and evaluate their choices. In the future it should be researched why parents leave the initiative to talk about meat to their children and how it affects the discussed topics. More research should be done about the connection between the discussion parents have with their children and how much children know about food origin.