The present invention relates to the use of a composition comprising a plant material obtained from the Brassicaceae family and/or the Fabaceae family for inhibiting or reducing growth of a fungus organism.

Disclosed is a method for improving quality of cured loin ham mediated by sorbitol, belonging to the field of food processing. The method comprises the following steps: treating loin with curing material containing sorbitol, inoculating bacterial suspension, and fermenting at constant temperature and humidity to obtain sorbitol-mediated curing loin ham. Through experiments, it is found that the salt content, pH value and a.sub.w of sorbitol group are lower than those of control group in the whole production and processing process; only Lactobacillus is the dominant genus in the control group, while Staphylococcus and Lactobacillus are the dominant genera in the sorbitol group.

In some aspects, the present disclosure provides an advantageous process for preparing meat curing agents. In some embodiments, a process for continuous conversion of plant-based nitrates to nitrites includes: inoculating a source material liquid comprised of nitrates with a bacterial culture capable of converting nitrates to nitrites; when nitrites in the source material liquid reach a desired concentration, harvesting a first harvest volume of the source material liquid at a harvest rate; and replenishing the harvested volume of the source material liquid with source material liquid comprising additional nitrates at a feed rate, wherein the harvest rate is higher than the feed rate.

The present invention is related to the field of reddening of food products. In particular the present invention relates to the preservation or optimization of nitrate reductase activity of frozen and/or dried lactic acid bacteria cultures or Micrococcaceae cultures (particularly cultures comprising one or more species of Staphylococcus having nitrate reductase activity).

A cultured meat product may comprise a scaffold comprising an electrospun polymer fiber, and a population of cells. The cultured meat product may have a thickness from about 100 ?m to about 500 mm. A method of producing such a cultured meat product may comprise preparing the scaffold, placing the scaffold into a bioreactor, adding the population of cells to the bioreactor, culturing the population of cells in the bioreactor containing the scaffold for a period of time, thereby forming the cultured meat product, and removing the cultured meat product from the bioreactor. The cultured meat product may be configured to mimic the taste, texture, size, shape, and/or topography of a traditional slaughtered meat.

A meat has a lowered amount of saturated fatty acid. By feeding a livestock animal with feed containing Lactobacillus plantarum BB-PLT (lactic acid bacterium BB-PLT strain) (NITE BP-02097), the saturated fatty acid contained in the meat from the livestock animal decreases and the monovalent unsaturated fatty acid contained in the meat from the livestock animal increases as a result of heating during cooking. The lactic acid bacterium strain Lactobacillus plantarum BB-PLT (NITE BP-02097) can be included in a livestock feed, and can be used in a method for raising a livestock animal for meat by feeding it to the livestock animal with the lactic acid bacterium. Edible meat can be obtained from a livestock animal raised by the method.

The present invention relates to the field of production of bioengineered tissues comprising skeletal muscle cells, particularly to compositions and methods for producing a plurality of skeletal muscle-committed progenitor cells from pluripotent stem cells and skeletal muscle cells differentiated therefrom. The present invention further provides a mass of skeletal muscle-committed progenitor cells and/or a mass of skeletal muscle cells, engineered tissue comprising same, and uses thereof.

The present invention relates to the use of lactic acid bacteria strains and compositions comprising these strains for manufacturing cooked meat with improved properties. These strains and compositions are particularly suitable for manufacture of cooked ham, frankfurter sausages and mortadella.

The present invention relates to a method for reducing the concentration of pathogenic organisms such as Listeria spp. in fermented food products. The method comprises the steps of: (i) providing a food material, (ii) mixing said food material with a starter culture, (iii) mixing the food material with at least one adjunct culture in form of a bacteriocin-producing Pediococcus species, (iv) subjecting the mixture provided in step (iii) to a fermentation process, said fermentation process being con-ducted at conditions that are sub-optimal for growth of the bacteriocin-producing Pediococcus species in order to provide a limited acidification and allow for a high production of bacteriocin, and obtain a fermented food product. Furthermore, the invention relates to the use of bacteriocin-producing Pediococcus species as an adjunct culture for securing microbial safety of fermented food products.

There is provided a method of culturing cells, the method comprising: obtaining a substrate assembly, the substrate assembly comprising: (i) a plurality of fibres, wherein each fibre has an internal channel running along its length; (ii) a first support at a first end of the plurality of fibres; (iii) a second support at a second end of the plurality of fibres; wherein at least one of the first support and the second support allows fluid communication across the support into the internal channels while preventing fluid communication across the support to the external surfaces of the plurality of fibres; introducing a first type of cells into the internal channels of the plurality of fibres; introducing a second type of cells onto the external surfaces of the plurality of fibres; and culturing cells on the substrate assembly in a bioreactor. Also provided is a substrate assembly for culturing cells.