Chemical and physical characteristics of meat and seafood. Methods to measure chemical and physical parameters characterising the quality. Quality conditions and defects of meat products. Health characteristics. Presence of residuals, contaminants, toxins, etc. Management of safety and quality of the animal products. Chemical, physical and SCC features of milk. Sanitation of milk. Butter. Cheeses: quality and defects. Integrated production chain and chemical-physical quality of the eggs.
R.A. Lowry. La Scienza della carne. Edagricole, 1979.
P.D. Warriss. Meat Science - An Introductory Text. CABI Publishing, 2000.
Boylston et al. (Eds.), Handbook of Meat, Poultry and Seafood Quality, Blackwell Publishing Professional, Ames, IA, USA, 2007.
Kestin & Warriss (Eds.) Farmed Fish Quality Blackwell Publishing . 2000.
The teacher provides handouts on the milk and eggs lectures.
Learning Objectives
Knowledge acquired:
To supply the theoretical and practical knowledge related to the characteristics and quality of meat, seafood, milk, eggs, and egg products quality.
Competence acquired (at the end of the course):
The student will understand
-the most important aspects & phases of the production process (methods of farming/feeding, slaughtering, handling of the product after slaughtering, transport and so on) that contribute and influence the quality of meat and seafood
-the methods to measure and monitor the different parameters characterizing the quality
-the management of meat and fish throughout the process
- the improvement of milk quality
- the characteristics of the eggs and of eggs chain
- the better methodologies for treatments of egg products for food industry.
Skills acquired (at the end of the course):
The student will be able to evaluate the quality of the meat products, to understand the factors affecting their conditions and characteristics, to apply the fundamental and most adequate methods for monitoring of characteristics and for managing the product, for its valorization. The student will be able to manage milk production & processing and egg products quality.
Prerequisites
Courses to be used as requirements (required and/or recommended)
Courses required: Animal biology, Livestock morphology and physiology, Animal production
Courses recommended:
Teaching Methods
CFU: 9
Total hours of the course (including the time spent in attending lectures, seminars, private study, examinations, etc...): 225
Hours reserved to private study and other individual formative activities: 150
Contact hours for: Lectures (hours): 72
Contact hours for: Laboratory (hours): 7
Contact hours for: Laboratory-field/practice (hours): 13
Seminars (hours): 6
Stages: 0
Intermediate examinations: 0
Further information
Frequency of lectures, practice and lab: not mandatory but strongly recommended.
Type of Assessment
Oral
Course program
The meats from the different species utilized for human nutrition. Chemical characteristics of meat and seafood. Physical characteristics (colour, texture, water holding capacity) of meat and seafood. Typical characteristics of seafood quality. The “ethical” quality. Meat quality and defects. Instrumental methods for measurements of chemical and physical parameters characterizing the quality of meat and seafood. Quality involution during the shelf life of seafood. Hygienic and safety characteristics (presence of residuals, contaminants, toxins, etc.). Health aspects. Preservation methods. Management of the safety and quality of the animal products.
Physiology of milk production. Legal requisite of milk. Chemical, physical and SCC features of milk. Improvement of the quality to the farm. Sanitation techniques of milk: pasteurized, sterilization and microfiltration. Sugar, lipids and protein of milk: biological, technological and chemical properties.
Industrial utilization of lactose, fat and proteins. Butter. Cheeses: quality and defects.
Integrated production chain and chemical -physical quality of eggs. Egg products quality: definition, technical advantages, functional properties. Kind of egg products. Techniques of preservation by: pasteurization, freezing and pulverization. Problems in operation stability of the treatments. Production of antibodies from the yolk, CLA and nutraceutical components. Properties and practical applications.