Fermented chicken dendeng is a traditional dried meat product with improved nutritional and microbiological quality due to fermentation. This study evaluates the effects of Lactobacillus plantarum and Moringa oleifera supplementation on pH, titratable acidity (TA), bacterial count, and proximate composition. The pH values ranged from 4.09 to 4.62, with the lowest in the 6 % L. plantarum + 2.5 % M. oleifera treatment. Titratable acidity was the highest (1.47 %) in the 6 % L. plantarum group but decreased with M. oleifera addition. The highest bacterial count (6.535 log CFU/g) was observed in the 6 % L. plantarum + 5 % M. oleifera group, indicating probiotic activity. Proximate analysis shows that fermentation enhances quality. Protein content increased with M. oleifera, reaching 58.2 % in the 6 % L. plantarum + 5 % M. oleifera treatment. Fat content remained stable (8.6 % — 9.3 %), while ash content increased to 5.1 %. These findings suggest that fermented chicken dendeng with L. plantarum and optimal M. oleifera supplementation had improved microbial stability and protein retention. Further research is needed to assess storage stability and sensory attributes.

Residual concentrations of antibiotics in animal­d erived foods represent a serious threat for human health facilitating formation and spreading of antimicrobial resistance. Despite of normative restrictions that regulate the content of antibiotics in foods, mechanisms of their degradation and transformation under an effect of various technological factors, such as freezing and heat treatment, have been studied insufficiently yet. The topicality of this issue is determined by the fact that residual amounts of antibiotics can enter the food chain, which leads to their unintended consumption by humans. This, in turn, can promote selection of resistant pathogenic microorganisms, which is one of the key problems of modern medicine. The aim of this study was a complex assessment of model matrices containing meat raw materials contaminated with antibiotics of different pharmacological groups: penicillins, tetracyclines, amphenicols, aminoglycosides and polypeptides. Contamination of samples (chicken breast, rabbit meat and chicken liver) was carried out in concentrations that corresponded and exceeded maximum permissible levels specified in the normative documentation. Confirmation of the contamination levels was performed by HPLC–MS/MS with deviations not higher than 5 %. In this study, a comprehensive assessment of an effect of storage conditions at a subzero temperature and heat treatment (a range from –18 °C to +72 °C) on the residual concentrations of antibiotics was carried out. The study included analysis of the stability of the molecular structure, degradation kinetics of active components and preservation of pharmacological properties of antibiotics. Freezing did not exert a significant effect on the concentration, while heat treatment led to various degrees of degradation of the tested compounds. The most heat labile were chloroamphenicol and tetracyclines (losses up to 90 %), whereas bacitracin and streptomycin showed the highest stability (losses ≤40 %). The results obtained corroborate partial destruction of antibiotics upon culinary treatment and emphasize a need for strict control of the residues in meat products.

Biofilm formation on food processing surfaces creates persistent reservoirs of microbial contamination, including opportunistic pathogens, posing a serious risk to product quality and safety, while standard monitoring programs are often ineffective at detecting them in hard­to­reach niches. The aim of the study was a comparative analysis of microbial contamination and biofilm prevalence on surfaces in a meat processing plant (MPP) and a poultry processing plant (PPP). Samples were collected by swabbing from various surfaces in the production environment. Significant differences in biofilm prevalence were revealed: at the PPP, biofilms were detected in 85.7 % of samples (6 out of 7), whereas at the MPP, only in 25 % (2 out of 8). The microbiota of both plants was characterized by the dominance of bacteria of the genera Pseudomonas, Serratia, Raoultella, and yeasts of the genus Candida. The presence of opportunistic pathogens (Enterococcus faecalis, Yersinia spp.) and indicator microorganisms (Escherichia coli) was established. Biofilms formed predominantly in hard­to­reach areas with moisture (transport wheels, bottom sides of equipment, and walls of chilling tunnels). The study demonstrates the systemic and uneven formation of biofilms, which act as persistent sources of contamination. Their detection in non­obvious locations not covered by standard monitoring indicates the need to revise sampling points and sanitation procedures for effective microbiological risk control in food processing facilities.

This study aims to investigate the effects of a diet supplementation of a mixture of cinnamon powder and clay (kaolin or marl) on growth performance, carcass traits, meat quality, and tibial morphometric characteristics of broiler chickens. A total of 120 broiler chicks were randomly assigned to three dietary treatment groups: control (CON), a mixture of 0.3 % cinnamon powder and 2.7 % kaolin (KCP), and a blend of 0.3 % cinnamon powder and 2.7 % marl (MCP), with five replicates of eight birds per treatment group. The results revealed that body weight, weight gain, and feed conversion ratio were significantly higher in birds receiving KCP or MCP mixture than in birds receiving CON (p < 0.05). Additionally, these groups exhibited superior carcass traits, including increased dressing percentage, higher breast and thigh weights, and reduced abdominal fat. The pH values at 24 h were higher in the KCP and MCP groups compared to the CON group. Additionally, these treatments resulted in a significant reduction in drip and cooking losses, indicating improved water­h olding capacity and enhanced bone health in the tibia. Therefore, it was inferred that a combination of cinnamon powder and silicate minerals is a viable alternative to antibiotic growth promoters in broiler diets to improve growth performance, carcass traits, meat quality, and bone quality.