Meat omics: microbiota and shelf life of bovine vacuum-packed sirloin

• Grant number: 21/08292-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Effective date (Start): August 01, 2021
• Effective date (End): May 31, 2022
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Animal Husbandry
• Principal Investigator: Anderson de Souza Sant'Ana
• Grantee: Juliana Silva da Graça
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Engenharia de Alimentos (FEA). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 17/26667-2 - Beef quality in Bos indicus cattle: biological markers for meat attributes in different ultimate pH ranges, AP.TEM

Abstract

Brazil is an important beef exporter worldwide. Currently, it has the second largest commercial herd in the world, with 219 million head of cattle, and its exports represent 26% of its total production. Beef consumption is culturally ingrained and despite the crisis suffered by the sector, a gradual increase is expected in the coming years, reaching 8.32% in 2021. In addition, one of the main objectives and challenges of the meat industry in Brazil is the preservation of the sensory and microbiological quality of the product. Therefore, it is evident the need to study the spoilage microbiota of beef and to evaluate the causes and conditions (of temperature and final pH) that favor the deterioration process. Such understanding is fundamental for effective measures to be adopted to reduce the economic losses associated with this phenomenon. In this sense, and taking into account the study recently carried out by Rodriguez-Caturla et al. (2021), which verifies that the types of bovine meat cuts do not influence the growth of spoilages and that only two pH ranges are shown to be responsible for the delay (<5 .8) or increase (>5.8) in microbial growth, it is proposed to study, through cultivation-dependent methods, the microbiota responsible for the deterioration of sirloin steak in the two pH ranges mentioned, stored at temperatures of 2, 5 and 8°C. Along with microbiological analyzes, independent cultivation methods such as sequencing of the 16 S rDNA region will be used for identification at the species, family or order level of the populations responsible for the deterioration of the product. Along with this analysis, predictive modeling will be used to quantify microbial growth under different environmental conditions, and to describe the effect of bad significant factors on growth. Considering Brazil's worldwide performance in the meat production and marketing scenario, this study will be developed to obtain scientific data that explain the conditions that favor the deterioration of beef, through methods dependent on cultivation and metagenomics. (AU)