Academic Journal
Metagenomic-metabolomic integration elucidates stage-specific dynamics of microbial communities and metabolites driving pork spoilage in commercial supply chains.
| Title: | Metagenomic-metabolomic integration elucidates stage-specific dynamics of microbial communities and metabolites driving pork spoilage in commercial supply chains. |
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| Authors: | Huang C; Institute of Urban Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Chengdu National Agricultural Science and Technology Center, Chengdu 610213, China., Zhao Y; Department of Agricultural, Food and Nutritional Science, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2P5, Canada., Gu M; Institute of Food Science and Technology, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Key Laboratory of Agro-Products Quality & Safety Harvest, Storage, transport, Management and Control, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Beijing 100193, China., Li Z; Institute of Urban Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Chengdu National Agricultural Science and Technology Center, Chengdu 610213, China., Li X; Institute of Urban Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Chengdu National Agricultural Science and Technology Center, Chengdu 610213, China., Huang Y; Institute of Food Science and Technology, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Key Laboratory of Agro-Products Quality & Safety Harvest, Storage, transport, Management and Control, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Beijing 100193, China., Zhang C; Institute of Urban Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Chengdu National Agricultural Science and Technology Center, Chengdu 610213, China; Institute of Food Science and Technology, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Key Laboratory of Agro-Products Quality & Safety Harvest, Storage, transport, Management and Control, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Beijing 100193, China., Zhang D; Institute of Urban Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Chengdu National Agricultural Science and Technology Center, Chengdu 610213, China; Institute of Food Science and Technology, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Key Laboratory of Agro-Products Quality & Safety Harvest, Storage, transport, Management and Control, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Beijing 100193, China. Electronic address: dequan_zhang0118@126.com. |
| Source: | Food research international (Ottawa, Ont.) [Food Res Int] 2026 Sep 30; Vol. 240, pp. 119678. Date of Electronic Publication: 2026 Jun 08. |
| Publication Type: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English |
| Journal Info: | Publisher: Published on behalf of the Canadian Institute of Food Science and Technology by Elsevier Applied Science Country of Publication: Canada NLM ID: 9210143 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1873-7145 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 09639969 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Food Res Int Subsets: MEDLINE |
| Imprint Name(s): | Original Publication: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada : Published on behalf of the Canadian Institute of Food Science and Technology by Elsevier Applied Science, c1992- |
| MeSH Terms: | Metabolomics*/methods , Metagenomics*/methods , Red Meat*/microbiology , Red Meat*/analysis , Pork Meat*/microbiology , Pork Meat*/analysis , Food Microbiology* , Microbiota*, Bacteria/metabolism ; Bacteria/classification ; Bacteria/genetics ; Food Handling/methods ; Animals ; Swine ; Food, Processed |
| Abstract: | Microbial-metabolic axis drives meat quality deterioration and shelf-life changes along commercial supply chains. This study tracked pork quality and freshness from postmortem processing to retail sale by integrating untargeted metabolomic and metagenomic analyses. Over the first 1700 min postmortem, pork showed a decline in pH and increases in L*, a* and b* values, cooking loss, shear force, total volatile basic nitrogen and total viable counts. At the point of sale, the meat remained in rigor mortis and retained acceptable freshness. Metabolic profiles remained dynamic after warehousing and were further modified by ambient exposure during transport and retail sale. Results revealed that differential metabolites were predominantly enriched in purine metabolism, nucleotide metabolism, lysosome pathway, as well as alanine, aspartate and glutamate metabolism. Likewise, several genera potentially associated with spoilage or contamination-associated bacteria were influenced by commercial condition along the supply chain, with increased abundance of Acinetobacter, Bacillus, Listeria, Psychrobacter, Salmonella andEnterobacter during transport and retail sale, while Listeria, Salmonella andEnterobacter may originate from environmental or processing-associated sources. These findings identify stage-specific metabolic and microbial signatures shaped by commercial handling, such as temperature, relative humidity and provide insights for improving pork quality and safety management during the early postmortem period. (Copyright © 2026. Published by Elsevier Ltd.) |
| Competing Interests: | Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper. |
| Contributed Indexing: | Keywords: Freshness; Meat quality; Metabolites; Microbial communities; Omics |
| Entry Date(s): | Date Created: 20260706 Date Completed: 20260707 Latest Revision: 20260706 |
| Update Code: | 20260707 |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.foodres.2026.119678 |
| PMID: | 42409501 |
| Database: | MEDLINE |
| ISSN: | 1873-7145 |
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| DOI: | 10.1016/j.foodres.2026.119678 |