Food businesses and export requirements: a first glance at current perception and future expectations.

The export of agri-food products represents a pillar of the Italian economy. However, food businesses (FBs) must comply with a series of requirements, including those imposed by importing countries. This study conducted in-depth interviews with three Italian FBs producing food of animal origin to explore their perception about procedures, documentation, and the role of the central competent authority (CA) related to export.

16S rRNA metabarcoding applied to the microbiome of insect products (novel food): a comparative analysis of three reference databases.

The 16S rRNA metabarcoding, based on Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS), is used to assess microbial biodiversity in various matrices, including food. The process involves a "dry-lab" phase where NGS data are processed through bioinformatic pipelines, which finally rely on taxonomic unit assignment against reference databases to assign them at order, genus, and species levels. Today, several public genomic reference databases are available for the taxonomic assignment of the 16S rRNA sequences.

Effect of VP, MAP and combined packaging systems on the physicochemical properties and microbiological status of veal from unweaned calves.

The packaging system is one of the factors influencing the preservation of the nutritional value, microbiological safety, and sensory attributes of meat. The study investigated changes in physicochemical and microbiological properties taking place during 15-day refrigerated storage of two calf muscles, the longissimus lumborum (LL) and semitendinosus (ST), packaged in three systems, respectively, vacuum packing (VP), modified atmosphere packaging (MAP, 80% O + 20% CO), and a combined system (VP + MAP, 8 d in VP followed by 7 d in MAP). LL and ST stored in VP had significantly lower levels of lipid oxidation, higher α-tocopherol content, and higher instrumentally measured tenderness in comparison with the samples stored in MAP.

Lactobacillus plantarum and Streptococcus thermophilus as starter cultures for a donkey milk fermented beverage.

Donkey milk is recently gaining attention due to its nutraceutical properties. Its low casein content does not allow caseification, so the production of a fermented milk would represent an alternative way to increase donkey milk shelf life. The aim of this study was to investigate the possibility of employing selected Streptococcus thermophilus and Lactobacillus plantarum isolates for the production of a novel donkey milk fermented beverage.