Effect of the temperature and ultrasound on salt impregnation process of haddock

The influence of different brine temperatures (5, 15 and 25 °C) and ultrasound on the salt gain (SG) and water gain (WG) kinetics of haddock cubes during vacuum impregnation (VI) process was evaluated. Samples were taken from salt solution (4 g NaCl/ 100 g solution) after 0, 20, 40, 60, 100, 140 and 180 min of brining process for salt and moisture analysis. Ultrasound assisted VI and increasing temperature in the salt solution increased (P < 0.05) the salt content, and SG value in the haddock cubes. Furthermore, ultrasound assisted VI enhanced the water diffusion into the cubes and resulted in an increase in WG value. The ultrasound process increased the salt effective diffusion coefficient (Ds) and the highest Ds was found at 25 °C brine temperature. Azuara, Diffusive, Peleg, Weibull, Z and L models were tested to predicting SG and WG kinetics and Azuara was the best model during brining process of haddock cubes.

Application of ultrasound-assisted vacuum impregnation for improving the diffusion of salt in beef cubes

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of different vacuum impregnation (VI) conditions (Control, VI-250, VI-500, VI-750, US-VI-250, US-VI-500 and US-VI-750) on the salt gain (SG) and water gain (WG) kinetics of beef cubes. The cubes were immersed in brine solution (4 g NaCl/ 100 g solution) and salted at different levels of vacuum (250, 500 and 750 mbar) using VI method with and without ultrasound. The final moisture and salt contents of the cubes were 78.60% and 1.59%, respectively, and the samples were salted the fastest with US-VI-250. Five kinetic models were selected to evaluate the SG and WG kinetics, and Azuara model exhibited the best fit. In addition, the salt (D_s) and moisture (D_w) diffusion coefficients were in the range of 5.94-8.11 × 10^-9 m²/s and 5.17-8.64 × 10^-9 m²/s, respectively. It can be concluded that the ultrasound-assisted VI could shorten the brining time by improving the salt diffusion in beef cubes.

The use of beetroot extract and extract powder in sausages as natural food colorant

Four colorants (control, carmine, beetroot extract and beetroot extract powder) and two methods (fermentation and heat treatment) were used in the production of sausages. The betalain content, total phenolic substance content and ORAC and TEAC values of concentrated beetroot extract were 562.08 mg/L, 27.72 mg GAE/mL, 33.96 µmol TE/mL and 35.70 mmol TE/L, respectively. The moisture content, pH value, lightness (L*), yellowness (b*) and odor values of heat-processed sausages were higher than those of fermented sausages. 2-thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) values were lower in sausages with beetroot extract (20.51 μmol·MDA/kg) and powder (19.03 μmol MDA/kg) than for control and carmine treatments. The use of beetroot extract and powder positively affected the sensory appearance, color, flavor and overall acceptance of sausages. Thus, beetroot extract and powder could be used as alternatives to carmine in sausage production.

Quality characteristics of cold-dried beef slices

In this study, salted and pasteurized beef slices were dried to approximately 40% water content at different low temperatures (10, 15 and 20 °C) and air flow rates (1, 2, 3 and 4 m/s) and the quality characteristics of the cold-dried beef slices were investigated. The TBARS values of cold-dried slices increased from 42.01 to 54.54 μmol MDA/kg with the increase in drying temperature and from 27.29 to 67.79 μmol MDA/kg with the increase in air flow rate indicating that low temperature and low air flow rate can help to avoid the lipid oxidation. Low drying temperature was also found to impact on the color of cold-dried slices. Additionally, it was determined that the microbiological quality of cold-dried slices decreased as the temperature increased from 10 to 20 °C and air flow rate increased from 1 to 4 m/s. Finally, the slices dried at 10 °C and 3 m/s had higher sensorial property scores. Consequently, low drying temperature and high air flow rate could enhance the quality of dried beef slices.