Scientific Resource Guides & Papers
White Papers
White papers and reference documents address the science behind current issues facing the meat industry. The following titles are currently available:
Sodium Nitrite in Processed Meat and Poultry Meats: A Review of Curing and Examining the Risk or Benefit of Its Use
Published on
Nov 9, 2011, 12:51 PM
by
Ashley Woods
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<h2>Executive Summary</h2>
<p>Curing with nitrite has been used, essentially, for thousands of years to produce safe and nutritious products and to effectively preserve meat. Since the controversies about the safety of nitrite that started in the mid-20th century, much has been learned about nitrite and heme chemistry and the overall metabolism of nitrogen oxides in humans. </p>
<p>Curing practices in the meat and poultry industries have been adjusted using the knowledge obtained about nitrosamine risks. The ongoing research focused on the metabolism of nitric oxide, nitrite, and nitrate appears to reaffirm the safety and benefits of current curing practices. </p>
<p>The challenge to meat scientists is two-fold. </p>
<ul><li>First, is to continually broaden their understanding of curing in the context of human physiology and metabolism of nitrite and to keep current on the medical literature in this area. </li>
<li>The second is to effectively educate a broad community of public health scientists, nutritionists, and the general public about the fundamental role of nitrite in biology in order to address their unfounded fears and concerns about adverse health effects from consuming cured meat and poultry products.</li></ul>
AMSA Resource Guides
Published by AMSA
- Color Chemistry-Resource Guide Color of muscle foods revolves around myoglobin, the primary red pigment in meat. Understanding the chemical states of myoglobin is important for managing and controlling color.
- Color: Factors Impacting - Resource Guide Numerous factors affect meat color. Traits of the muscle itself, biochemical reactions within the meat, live animal attributes and many external and environmental factors may contribute to meat color and changes to color.
- Salmonella Pathogenicity - Resource Guide The pathogenicity of Salmonella refers to its ability to cause illness in humans and animals. Many factors impact the likelihood for an illness to occur.
- Salmonella Enumeration - Resource Guide The quantity of viable Salmonella cells influences the potential to cause human illness. Rapid, precise quantification methods are important for collecting information to fully assess public health risk of products.
- Salmonella Interventions -Resource Guide Multiple interventions are needed as part of risk-based mitigation strategies to control Salmonella in poultry from farm to fork
- Salmonella Overview Salmonella is a gram-negative, rod-shaped bacteria with a talent for adapting to its environment. This ability to grow or persist in many different conditions makes it particularly problematic as a foodborne pathogen.
- Anatomy of a Meat Product Label
In the U.S, labeling of meat and poultry products intended for interstate commerce is closely regulated by the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).
- Beta-Agonists: What Are They and Why Do We Use Them in Livestock Production?
Beta-adrenergic receptor agonists (beta-agonists, for short) are synthetic compounds that mimic some of the effects of naturally-occurring compounds by binding to beta-receptors on the surface of cells within the muscle, fat and other tissues of animals.
- Mechanically Separated Poultry
Mechanically separated poultry (chicken or turkey) is a low-cost poultry protein, which is produced by mechanically separating bone and attached skeletal muscle.
Co-Published Fact Sheets
AMSA and the National Pork Board have co-published a series of fact sheets on various aspects of pork quality. Titles are listed below.