Pulsed vacuum brining of poultry meat: experimental study on the impact of vacuum cycles on mass transfer

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Abstract

Salting of meat products is often accelerated by using a continuous vacuum salting–tumbling process. The pulsed vacuum brining (PVB) process involves plunging a food product into a concentrated salt solution followed by an alternation of cycles under partial vacuum and then atmospheric pressure conditions. The effects of key vacuum cycle variables on mass transport were studied by PVB of turkey meat in different concentrated sodium chloride solutions. PVB led to a product that was more salted and less dehydrated than products brined under atmospheric pressure brining conditions, thus boosting mass yields. Food products obtained by PVB have a more uniform salt and water distribution from the surface to the core. This study demonstrated that the number of vacuum cycles, processing with a long vacuum phase under a low residual pressure and a shorter atmospheric pressure phase enhanced the effects of PVB on mass transfers (increased salt gain, decreased water loss, thus increasing mass yields).

Introduction

Many meat processing techniques involve a formulation phase. Dry salting can be done by tumbling the product with a salt crystal mixture, and wet salting by plunging the product into brine, injecting the solution directly in the muscle meat (Varnam & Sutherland, 1995), or even by drenching the product with brine solution (Prosenbauer, 1989). Dry salting, brining and drenching differ with respect to the mode of solution/product contact. Once the product comes in contact with the solution, mass transfers trigger mechanisms that are known to promote diffusion, thus slowing down the process. Injecting the solution into the product is fast but the products can be contaminated by the injection needles or the brine solution (Townsend & Olson, 1987), especially if it is recycled (Varnam & Sutherland, 1995). Different alternative techniques have been proposed to accelerate salt transport through the product, for instance ultrasound brining (Sanchez, Simal, Femenia, Benedito, & Rosselo, 1999), brining under high hydrostatic pressure conditions (Messens, Van Camp, & Huyghebart, 1997), and tumbling (Ghavimi, Rogers, Althen, & Ammerman, 1986; Katsaras & Budras, 1993).

Vacuum cycles have also been used in brining, with tumbling (Marriott, Graham, Boling, & Collins, 1984; Solomon, Norton, & Schmidt, 1980) or no tumbling (Barat, Grau, Montero, Chiralt, & Fito, 1998; Chiralt et al., 2001; Guamis et al., 1997), to accelerate salt transport. In vacuum brining of cheese curd, the vacuum phase considerably accelerates salt impregnation and ensures uniform salt distribution (Andres, Panizzolo, Camacho, Chiralt, & Fito, 1997; Chiralt & Fito, 1997), while reducing water loss (Guamis et al., 1997). Studies on the effects of vacuum processing on mass transport (Hermsen, 1979) in meat products have, however, long remained empirical, despite the fact that the mechanisms involved have now been relatively well characterized with respect to processing plant-based products (Fito et al., 2001). Very few studies on meat products––apart from that of Barat et al. (1998)––have investigated the specific effects of vacuum processing (without tumbling) on mass transport. This study was aimed at highlighting the effects of pulsed vacuum cycles on mass transfers and classifying the main process command variables during pulsed vacuum brining (PVB) of turkey meat.

Section snippets

Turkey meat and concentrated solutions

Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) meat was purchased from a butcher. This poultry meat was all from a single batch, with turkeys of the same age that had been slaughtered at the same time. The muscle (Pectoralis major) fillets ranged from 1 to 1.3 kg for all tests. Immediately after purchase, the fillets were frozen separately in an air-blast quick freezer (Facis) for 4 h at −50 °C and then kept in a freezer at −18 °C until use. Before treatment, whole turkey fillets were thawed for 24 h at +4 °C.

Effect of pulsed vacuum brining on mass transfers

Fig. 2 shows time variation in salt gain and water loss for turkey fillets immersed in a NaCl solution (Cst=350 g/kg) under APB and PVB conditions (Pv=20 kPa; t0=100 s; t1=300 s; t2=20 s; t3=300 s). The salt gain kinetics showed similar trends under atmospheric pressure and PVB conditions, but salt gain was always greater under PVB than under APB. These differences became significant after 72 min of processing (P<0.05). Similarly, water loss kinetics were comparable under APB and PVB

Conclusion

PVB of turkey meat in sodium chloride NaCl solution had several marked effects. First, pulsed vacuum increased salt gain and decreased water loss, leading to an increase in process mass yields and made it possible to substantially decrease the length of brining periods. Moreover, products obtained by PVB had a more uniform water and salt distribution from the product surface to the core. Finally, these effects could be considerably increased by using several vacuum cycles under a low pressure

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