A fast drying method for the production of salted-and-dried meat

Abstract

The objective of this work was to investigate the application of microwave vacuum drying (MWVD) as a fast drying method to produce salted-and-dried beef cuts. Moreover, aiming to reduce the sodium content in the meat product, the partial replacement of NaCl by KCl during the salting stage was also investigated. To this end, beef cuts were salted by immersion in one of three saline solutions before drying: Solution A-100% NaCl; Solution B-75% NaCl and 25% KCl; and (iii) Solution C-50% NaCl and 50% KCl. The proposed MWVD method was compared with convective drying (CD) and vacuum drying (VD) in terms of drying kinetics as well as physicochemical and mechanical properties of obtained samples. The average drying times for the samples to reach water activity of 0.7 was more than 40 h for CD, 36 h for VD, and 0.45 h for MWVD. The salting with different solutions had no influence in these times. Moreover, the MWVD samples presented higher values of porosity and rehydration capacity. Thus, the results presented in this study have technological importance for the design of new industrial technologies to produce salted-and-dried meat, as charque and jerked beef, with lower sodium content.Practical Application: The knowledge of how the different drying methods and the partial replacement of NaCl by KCl influence the physicochemical characteristics and mechanical properties is of great importance for the production of salted-and-dried meat.

Effect of pulsed vacuum and laser microperforations on the potential acceleration of chicken meat marination

“…Several authors have reported the effects of incorporating vacuum treatments in the salting and marinating processes of different kinds of foods, obtaining favorable yields. Nevertheless, they use higher temperatures, salt solution concentrations, and contact areas than those used in this study, among other variables, corroborating the marked influence of the process conditions on the effect of the applying vacuum treatment (Bampi, Schmidt, & Laurindo, 2019; Chiralt et al, 2001; Corzo & Bracho, 2007; Jin et al, 2014; Mújica‐Paz, Argüelles‐Piña, Pérez‐Velázquez, Valdez‐Fragoso, & Welti‐Chanes, 2006; Serio et al, 2017; Tomac, Rodríguez, Perez, Garcia, & Yeannes, 2020; Wang, Xu, Kanga, Shen, & Zhanga, 2016). Deumier, Bohuon, et al (2003) reported that the number of pulses affected the water and salt mass gain differently.…”

Mass transfer and physicochemical characteristics of turkey neck meat during dry salting

“…For all temperatures it was noted that in the last hours of salting there was a not significant slight variation in the values of ∆E (between 0.14 to 1.29 units). Bampi, Schimidt and Laurindo (2019) [50] salted beef with reduced sodium content and found values of global color difference between 7.79 to 14.15, in which the increase in the salt content used during the process promoted more considerable color change. Still in the study by Bampi, Schimidt and Laurindo (2019) [50], ∆E values between 6.0 and 12.0 show a massive color difference, and above 12.0 units, the difference is classified as very large.…”

“…Bampi, Schimidt and Laurindo (2019) [50] salted beef with reduced sodium content and found values of global color difference between 7.79 to 14.15, in which the increase in the salt content used during the process promoted more considerable color change. Still in the study by Bampi, Schimidt and Laurindo (2019) [50], ∆E values between 6.0 and 12.0 show a massive color difference, and above 12.0 units, the difference is classified as very large. This global variation is a result of the variations observed in the parameters L*, a*, and b* (data not shown, used by Equation 5 to calculate ∆E).…”

“…In addition to the water loss, the salt also increases the hardness of the tissues because high concentrations of NaCl promote the compaction of the myofibrillar structure and produce an inhibitory effect on the activity of calpain that works by breaking the Z lines and increasing the tenderness of the meat [52]. Bampi, Schimidt and Laurindo (2019) [50] during the dry salting of beef cuts found values ranging from 117 N to 287 N with different drying methods, which demonstrates that the dehydration method and the form of incorporation of the solutes result in different textures.…”

Comparative study on microwave and tray drying of beef: Effect of partial salt replacement on drying kinetics and structural characteristics

“…The hydration number is also a factor affecting the diffusion rate of the molecule. The ions possessing higher hydration numbers bind more water; thus, solvent molecules readily hinder the hydrated ions, resulting in a lower diffusion rate of the molecule which prevents it from diffusing to an environment with low ionic power (Bampi et al, 2019). Na + ions possess higher hydration number than K + ions, and therefore, cause a lower diffusion rate (Bampi et al, 2019;Zhang et al, 2020).…”