The study, published in Food Science of Animal Resources, set out to optimize high-pressure processing, or HPP, for wild deer loins. HPP is a non-thermal preservation technology that subjects vacuum-packed food to uniform hydrostatic pressure, inactivating microorganisms and enzymes at low temperatures without the sensory and nutritional damage caused by sterilization or pasteurization. The technique is already used commercially on juices, guacamole and deli meats, but its effects depend heavily on the food matrix. Moderate pressures between 300 and 400 megapascals achieve partial microbial reduction while better preserving raw meat quality, whereas pressures above 500 megapascals kill more microbes but can wreck colour and texture. Finding the sweet spot for venison was the goal of Beatriz García-Béjar, Almudena Soriano and colleagues at the University of Castilla-La Mancha, working with the Castilla y León Agricultural Technological Institute.

The raw material came from 16 male Iberian red deer shot during montería hunts in the province of Ciudad Real at the end of the hunting season. Each animal was eviscerated and inspected by a veterinarian in the field, hung in a refrigerated truck and aged for two days at 4 to 5 degrees Celsius before the loins — the longissimus thoracis et lumborum muscles — were extracted. Each left loin was halved and vacuum-packed, with one half kept as an untreated control and the other processed on an industrial Hiperbaric Wave 6000/135 unit, a 135-litre vessel calibrated annually and fitted with alarms that interrupt the cycle if pressure or temperature drifts. Treatments were applied on the fifth day after death, and all analyses were completed one week after slaughter, giving a realistic picture of how the technology would perform in a commercial workflow.

In the optimization phase, the team tested six pressure-time combinations: 350, 450 and 550 megapascals, each for either 3 or 6 minutes, with biological replicates from different animals. Initial bacterial counts hovered around 6 log colony-forming units per gram. The heaviest treatment, 550 megapascals, delivered the biggest microbial kill, reducing viable mesophilic aerobic bacteria by more than 2 log units — roughly 99.5 percent. Treatments at 350 and 450 megapascals still achieved reductions greater than 1 log unit, corresponding to about 94.9 to 96.8 percent. Interestingly, processing time on its own and the pressure-time interaction had no statistically significant effect on bacterial reduction, suggesting that pressure, not duration, is the dominant lever. But the price of brute force became obvious the moment the researchers looked at the meat itself.

Colour is the single most important quality cue for raw meat, and HPP left a visible fingerprint. Control loins bloomed to a bright red after 45 minutes of exposure to oxygen, as myoglobin converted to oxymyoglobin. Treated samples turned a pinkish-brown, and the effect intensified with pressure. Instrumental measurements confirmed the shift: lightness and yellowness values rose across all treatments, while redness dropped significantly from the 450 megapascal, 6-minute condition onward. The mechanism is well understood — myoglobin begins to denature at pressures of 400 megapascals and above, altering the way muscle absorbs and reflects light. A trained sensory panel of four experts with more than 25 years of experience each, working under ISO consensus-profiling protocols, agreed: aroma and tenderness were unaffected, but adhesiveness increased and red colour faded, with the worst damage at 550 megapascals, where colour intensity fell by two to three points on a three-point scale.

Based on this trade-off, the researchers selected 350 megapascals for 6 minutes as the best compromise and put it through a tougher test. Four loins from different animals were deliberately chosen because their high microbial loads reflected particularly poor hygiene during field handling — a worst-case scenario, though not fully representative of the wider population. The results were striking. Mesophilic aerobic bacteria fell by 99.97 percent, from about 7.9 to 4.4 log CFU per gram. Enterobacteriaceae dropped by 99.98 percent, and Escherichia coli by 99.99 percent, plunging from 7.8 to 2.1 log CFU per gram. Staphylococcus spp. counts were cut by 99.99 percent, and neither Salmonella spp. nor Listeria spp. could be detected in treated samples, with absence confirmed in 25-gram portions. Notably, no Staphylococcus aureus was found in any sample, treated or not.

The microbiology behind these numbers is revealing. Gram-negative bacteria such as E. coli and the Enterobacteriaceae are known to be more pressure-sensitive than gram-positive species, whose cross-linked peptidoglycan cell walls provide structural armour. Yet even the gram-positive Staphylococcus spp. in this study collapsed under treatment, a sensitivity the authors attribute to variability in baro-resistance and to the stage of the cell cycle. Rod-shaped bacteria also tend to be more vulnerable than spherical cocci, which helps explain the dramatic elimination of Listeria. The data also hinted that the treatment works harder on dirtier meat: samples starting at 8 log CFU per gram lost 99.97 percent of their bacteria, while cleaner samples starting at 6.1 log CFU per gram lost 94.9 percent. For a sector where carcass contamination ranges from below 2 to over 6 log CFU per square centimetre depending on field practices, that scalability matters.

Crucially, the gentler treatment left the meat’s chemistry largely intact. pH rose only slightly and non-significantly, moisture content was unchanged at around 76 percent, and cooking losses were statistically identical between treated and control loins at roughly 28 to 31 percent. Drip loss during 48 hours of refrigerated storage was actually lower in the pressurized meat, indicating improved water-holding capacity — a potential commercial bonus. The sensory story, however, had a twist. In a triangle test with 14 expert tasters following ISO 4120 protocols, panellists could reliably distinguish raw treated venison from raw controls, citing colour and tactile texture in every case. But once the loins were grilled to an internal temperature of 72 degrees Celsius, the differences vanished: the panel could no longer tell treated from untreated meat. Thermal denaturation of muscle proteins and surface browning reactions appear to homogenize whatever HPP changed, meaning consumers would never notice on the plate.

To understand what pressure actually does to muscle, the team turned to cryo-scanning electron microscopy, freezing samples in liquid nitrogen and imaging them with a field-emission microscope. The treated loins showed clearly defined separation between myofibrils — a subtle structural loosening that likely underlies the increased adhesiveness the panellists noted and the textural differences detected in raw samples. Similar disruption of sarcomere continuity has been reported in myofibrils exposed to 300 megapascals. The authors are careful to frame the work as preliminary: only four loins were used in the validation assay, and larger datasets are needed to confirm the findings and to test whether HPP extends shelf life. Still, the message is compelling. A 6-minute treatment at 350 megapascals can eliminate Salmonella and Listeria and slash bacterial loads by up to 99.99 percent in heavily contaminated wild venison, while leaving pH, moisture and cooked eating quality untouched. For a growing game meat industry operating outside the hygiene controls of conventional slaughterhouses, that combination of safety and subtlety could be exactly what it takes to bring wild deer from the hunting field to the supermarket shelf — and finally to the fork — with confidence.

Subject of Research: Optimization of high-pressure processing conditions for microbial reduction and quality preservation in wild venison

Article Title: Preliminary optimization and quality assessment of high-pressure processing for venison preservation

Article References: García-Béjar, B., González-Fernández, J. L., Alarcón, M., Delgado, B., Peinado, C., & Soriano, A. (2026). Preliminary optimization and quality assessment of high-pressure processing for venison preservation. Food Science of Animal Resources, 46(1), Article 109. https://doi.org/10.1007/s44463-026-00117-1

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1007/s44463-026-00117-1

Keywords: high-pressure processing, venison, game meat, food safety, microbial reduction, Salmonella, Listeria, E. coli, meat colour, sensory analysis, cryo-SEM, water-holding capacity

The research team, led by Le Pham Tan Quoc of the Industrial University of Ho Chi Minh City together with collaborators in Vietnam and Hungary, used RStudio with the Bibliometrix package and its Biblioshiny interface, complemented by VOSviewer for network visualization. Their search strategy combined the terms wild boar or Sus scrofa with meat quality, carcass traits, fatty acid, or nutritional composition, and after filtering to original research articles only, the team retained 423 publications for analysis. By applying performance indicators, co-authorship networks, keyword co-occurrence mapping, Multiple Correspondence Analysis, and thematic evolution analysis, the study addressed six core research questions covering publication growth, influential contributors, collaboration patterns, citation impact, dominant themes, and emerging trends.

The historical picture that emerges is striking. The first recorded publication appeared in 1959, but output remained sparse and sporadic through the 1960s and 1980s, when wild boar meat was treated largely as a side topic within wildlife and ecological research. From the mid-1990s, publication numbers began to climb as interest in alternative protein sources grew, and by 2003 the field recorded 18 papers in a single year, marking a transition toward systematic study. Advances in biochemical analytical methods, particularly for determining fatty acid composition, helped drive this shift, alongside rising consumer appetite for game meat as a natural, organic protein source and growing concerns about the environmental footprint of conventional livestock production.

Between 2006 and 2014, the field entered a phase of strong and relatively stable growth, with several years exceeding 20 publications. During this period, studies increasingly focused on the nutritional value, fatty acid profiles, and potential health benefits of wild boar meat compared with commercial pork. The expansion of wild boar populations across Europe also played a role, as wildlife managers sought productive uses for animals that increasingly required population control. From 2015 to 2024, output fluctuated but remained high, with research expanding into sensory quality evaluation, food safety, and the effects of hunting season, geographic region, and semi-wild production systems on meat characteristics.

Compared with intensively farmed pigs, wild boar meat generally shows lower fat content, firmer muscle structure, and higher protein levels. Its fatty acid profile contains higher proportions of polyunsaturated fatty acids, particularly omega-3 and omega-6 varieties, depending on natural feeding conditions and habitat. Quality assessment relies on indicators including pH, color, tenderness, water-holding capacity, fat-to-lean ratio, and sensory traits, while carcass characteristics such as weight, backfat thickness, and loin eye area reflect growth performance and processing potential. These parameters are significantly influenced by sex, age, hunting season, geographic location, and ecological conditions, which helps explain why the field spans so many disciplines and methodologies.

The author-level analysis revealed a highly specialized field shaped by a limited number of core research groups. Geldermann H leads productivity with 21 publications, followed by Bartenschlager H with 20 and Moser G with 16, and these three also top the citation rankings. Yet fractionalized counts, which reflect individual contribution within large collaborations, tell a subtler story: Razmaite V, with 15 publications, achieved the highest fractionalized value of 6.58, indicating a comparatively greater personal contribution, while Groenen M attained the highest average citations per article at 11.70. Journal of Animal Science and Meat Science dominate both productivity and citation impact, and the strong presence of Animal Genetics, Journal of Animal Breeding and Genetics, and Genetics Selection Evolution underscores how tightly meat quality research is bound to quantitative genetics.

Geographically, China leads in total publications, with most classified as single-country publications reflecting strong domestic research capacity, while Germany ranks second with a notably higher proportion of internationally co-authored work. Poland and Italy also contribute substantially, largely through domestic output, and the United States shows a balanced distribution that positions it as a connecting hub in the global network. The authors attribute the strong European presence to high wild boar population densities, long-term pig genetics programs, and policy pressures linked to wildlife management, whereas China’s dominance reflects substantial national investment in agricultural and animal science research.

Perhaps the most compelling finding is the field’s intellectual evolution. Thematic mapping across three periods shows that early research centered on intramuscular fat, carcass traits, and lipid metabolism in domestic pigs, with comparative studies between wild boar and commercial breeds. The middle period from 2011 to 2018 diversified into species identification, skeletal muscle biology, and performance evaluation, while the most recent phase from 2019 to 2026 consolidates around genomic characterization, with terms such as candidate genes, genome-wide association studies, and differentiation between wild and domestic populations taking prominence. Overlay visualization confirms that genetic and genome-mapping terms dominated early periods, while fatty acids, genome scan analysis, and meat quality traits have become increasingly prominent in recent years.

Multiple Correspondence Analysis crystallized this structure into three conceptual pillars that together explain more than 81 percent of the dataset’s variance across two dimensions. The first cluster encompasses genetic improvement and production traits such as growth, quantitative trait loci, and backfat thickness; the second captures molecular genetics, including gene expression, linkage, and candidate gene identification; and the third groups meat quality and lipid characteristics, including muscle composition, fatty acids, and physicochemical properties. The spatial proximity of these clusters in the analysis suggests growing integration between genetics and meat science, even as each direction maintains its own specialized identity.

The study’s authors conclude that wild boar meat research has progressed from foundational studies of carcass traits and lipid metabolism toward advanced genomic and association-based approaches, increasingly framed by nutritional evaluation and the prospect of wild game meat as a sustainable protein source. They note that collaboration networks remain concentrated within specific clusters, leaving room for broader interdisciplinary and international cooperation. Future work, they argue, should integrate multi-omics approaches with meat quality assessment, compare wild and domestic populations more systematically, and probe the nutritional implications of wild boar meat for human health. As global demand for sustainable, nutrient-rich protein intensifies, this mapping of the field’s intellectual architecture offers researchers a clear framework for where wild boar science is likely to head next.

Subject of Research: Bibliometric mapping of global research on wild boar (Sus scrofa) meat quality, genetics, and nutrition

Article Title: Wild boar (Sus scrofa) meat quality research at the crossroads of genetics and nutrition: a global bibliometric mapping

Article References: Quoc, L. P. T., Hao, P. M., Quyen, P. T., Thuan, N. H. D., & Nguyen, L. L. P. (2026). Wild boar (Sus scrofa) meat quality research at the crossroads of genetics and nutrition: a global bibliometric mapping. Food Science of Animal Resources, 46(1), Article 86. https://doi.org/10.1007/s44463-026-00084-7

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1007/s44463-026-00084-7

Keywords: wild boar, Sus scrofa, meat quality, bibliometric analysis, carcass traits, fatty acid composition, animal genetics, nutrition, genome-wide association studies, game meat, science mapping, sustainable protein

The study, led by Taner Gürel of the Samsun Veterinary Control Institute together with Şinasi Umur of Ondokuz Mayıs University, set out to fill a gap in molecular epidemiological data for Turkish wild boar populations. Wild boars occupy a pivotal position in the sylvatic cycles of Sarcocystis, Toxoplasma gondii, and Neospora caninum, three cyst-forming parasites of the phylum Apicomplexa that infect both animals and, in some cases, humans. Because wild boar populations have expanded dramatically across Europe and Anatolia, and because their meat is increasingly consumed as game, understanding what parasites these animals carry has direct implications for food safety, veterinary medicine, and public health.

To detect the parasites, the team combined classical parasitological techniques with a battery of molecular assays. Muscle tissue samples were first subjected to artificial digestion, a method that liberates cysts from meat fibers, and to histopathological examination to look for the characteristic sarcocysts embedded in muscle. The researchers then deployed a multiplex polymerase chain reaction targeting the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I gene, known as cox1, alongside a conventional PCR targeting the 18S ribosomal RNA gene to identify and differentiate Sarcocystis species. For the other two parasites, they used species-specific PCRs: one amplifying the 529 base pair repetitive element of Toxoplasma gondii, a target prized for its sensitivity because it is repeated hundreds of times in the parasite genome, and another targeting the NC5 region of Neospora caninum.

The results were unambiguous for Sarcocystis. Sarcocystis miescheriana was detected in 92 percent of the sampled animals, making it by far the dominant species in the population. Notably, the zoonotic species Sarcocystis suihominis, which can infect humans who eat undercooked pork or wild boar meat, was not found in any of the samples. That absence is reassuring from a food safety standpoint, though the authors caution that continued surveillance is warranted. Phylogenetic analysis of the cox1 sequences obtained from the Turkish isolates placed them close to European strains of S. miescheriana, consistent with the picture of a parasite lineage circulating widely among wild suids across the continent. The 18S rRNA sequence generated in the study has been deposited in GenBank under accession number PV104359.

Co-infections emerged as a defining feature of the population. Fifty-six percent of the wild boars harbored at least two of the three parasite species, and 28 percent carried all three simultaneously. Such high rates of mixed infection reflect the overlapping transmission routes of these parasites: Sarcocystis miescheriana cycles between pigs and canids, with dogs and other carnivores shedding sporocysts that contaminate the environment and are ingested by intermediate hosts; Toxoplasma gondii is transmitted both through oocysts shed by cats and through tissue cysts in meat; and Neospora caninum, whose definitive hosts are canids, is a major cause of abortion in cattle. A wild boar foraging in a contaminated landscape can readily pick up all three pathogens over its lifetime.

To identify risk factors for infection, the researchers applied multivariable logistic regression adjusted for age and sex. Adult age emerged as a significant predictor of Toxoplasma gondii infection, with adult animals showing roughly 3.77 times the odds of infection compared with younger boars, a statistically significant association. A similar but non-significant trend was observed for Neospora caninum, with an adjusted odds ratio of 3.21. Sex was not a significant predictor for either parasite. Triple infections were numerically more common in older animals, a pattern consistent with cumulative environmental exposure over time, although this trend did not reach statistical significance. The age effect fits the biology of these parasites: animals that live longer encounter more contaminated soil, water, and prey, and once infected with tissue cyst-forming protozoa they typically remain infected for life.

The detection of Toxoplasma gondii DNA in half of the sampled boars carries particular public health weight. Toxoplasmosis is one of the most common zoonotic infections worldwide, and while healthy adults usually experience mild symptoms, the parasite can cause severe disease in immunocompromised individuals and in fetuses when a woman acquires a primary infection during pregnancy. Game meat is an increasingly recognized route of exposure, and cases of ocular toxoplasmosis following wild game consumption have been documented in the medical literature. The 529 base pair repetitive element sequences generated in this study have been deposited in GenBank under accession numbers PV133829 through PV133831, adding to the genetic record of the parasite in the region.

Neospora caninum, detected in 38 percent of the animals, is less often a direct human health concern but is economically significant in livestock. The parasite is a leading cause of abortion and neonatal mortality in cattle worldwide, and wildlife reservoirs are thought to contribute to its persistence and spread. Previous surveys in other countries have found antibodies against N. caninum in feral swine and non-carnivorous wildlife, and the Turkish study adds molecular confirmation of the parasite’s presence in wild boar tissues from the region. The finding reinforces the idea that wild boars, which share habitats with livestock and are scavenged upon or hunted by canids, participate in the epidemiology of a parasite that costs the dairy industry substantially each year.

The Turkish results align with a growing body of European literature. Molecular studies in Italy, Greece, Latvia, Iran, and China have repeatedly identified Sarcocystis miescheriana as the predominant Sarcocystis species in wild boars, and surveys in Switzerland have documented both Sarcocystis and Toxoplasma in muscles of wild boars destined for human consumption. What distinguishes the new study is its combined assessment of all three parasites in the same animals, its use of both multiplex and conventional PCR platforms, and its formal statistical modeling of age and sex as risk factors. By quantifying co-infection patterns rather than treating each parasite in isolation, the study offers a more realistic picture of the parasite ecology within a single wild population.

The authors conclude that their results update the molecular epidemiology of tissue cyst-forming apicomplexans in Turkish wild boars and reinforce the importance of sustained One Health surveillance at the wildlife-livestock-human interface. As wild boar numbers continue to grow and the popularity of game meat rises, the study serves as a reminder that hunters, processors, and consumers all have a stake in safe handling and thorough cooking of wild game. It also highlights the value of molecular tools, which can distinguish morphologically similar parasite species and reveal co-infections that microscopy alone would miss. For now, the wild boars of Türkiye’s Black Sea coast stand as a vivid example of how much invisible parasite traffic moves through a seemingly healthy wildlife population.

Subject of Research: Molecular prevalence, co-infections, and genetic characterization of Sarcocystis, Toxoplasma, and Neospora parasites in wild boars from Türkiye

Article Title: Molecular Occurrence, Co-infections and Genetic Characterization of Sarcocystis miescheriana, Toxoplasma gondii and Neospora caninum in Wild Boars (Sus scrofa) from Türkiye

Article References: Molecular Occurrence, Co-infections and Genetic Characterization of Sarcocystis miescheriana, Toxoplasma gondii and Neospora caninum in Wild Boars (Sus scrofa) from Türkiye. (n.d.). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11686-026-01397-9

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1007/s11686-026-01397-9

Keywords: Sarcocystis miescheriana, Toxoplasma gondii, Neospora caninum, wild boar, Türkiye, co-infection, molecular epidemiology, PCR, game meat, food safety, One Health, parasitology