Determination of the level of freshness of snail meat according to the content of the enzyme reductase

To search and use of alternative sources of animal protein is an urgent problem in Ukraine. In this aspect, snail meat is interesting, due to its nutritional value. Meat contains protein, essential vitamins and amino acids for humans, and does not contain cholesterol and unhealthy fats. There is no a comprehensive system for monitoring the safety and quality of snail meat in the system of state control of Ukraine for compliance with food legislation. Consequently, the question of determination of its safety, including and the degree of freshness is an urgent task. The method of determination of the level of freshness of snail meat, according to the content of the enzyme reductase with 0,1 % aqueous solution of methylene blue, was developed. This authors` approach is proposed both a qualitative and quantitative method to determine the degree of freshness of snail meat, according to other methods its safety determination. It has an advantage against existing methods because the safety of snail meat could be determine in different technological processing at different storage times by qualitative indicators of bacterial contamination of meat, depending on the level of freshness. According to the results of this method, it is able to obtain quantitative indicators of bacterial contamination of freshness of snail meat with the aim to determine its level. It was carried out that in fresh snail meat there is a discoloration in the meat extract after thermostating  during 2,5 hours or it does not discolor (there is a stable blue color) – up to 103 CFU/g. In snail meat of dubious freshness, the meat extract is discolored in period from 40 minutes up to 2,5 h (104-105 CFU/g); in stale snail meat, discoloration of the meat extract is achieved  in 20–40 minutes (106 CFU/g and more). The developed method of determination the freshness of snail meat according to the content of the enzyme reductase with 0,1% aqueous solution of methylene blue can be used in production laboratories at producing capacity for production, processing, sale and storage of snail meat, as well as in state laboratories of the State Food and Consumer Services of Ukraine. In addition, obtained data could make the basis for the development of normative documents in the system of state control over the safety of snail meat in Ukraine.