Elsevier

Meat Science

Volume 63, Issue 2, February 2003, Pages 225-233
Meat Science

Effects of massaging time on texture, rheological properties, and structure of three pork ham muscles

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0309-1740(02)00073-6Get rights and content

Abstract

Changes in texture parameters (hardness, cohesiveness, chewiness), rheological properties (elastic and viscous moduli), and structural elements (fibre cross-sectional area and thickness of peri- and endomysium) of three pork ham muscles: Biceps femoris (BF), Semimembranosus (SM), and Quadriceps femoris (QM), subjected to effective massaging for 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12 h were followed. BF, with its higher fibre cross-sectional area thicker peri- and endomysium, compared with QF and SM, was harder, more elastic, and more viscous than the other two muscles. Massaging resulted in an increase in the mean fibre cross-sectional area, changes in thickness of the peri- and endomysium, and a reduction in hardness and chewiness as well as in elastic and viscous moduli of the muscles studied. The lower were the initial values of textural and structural parameters and rheological properties of a muscle, the shorter massage time was necessary. To arrive at comparable values of textural parameters, rheological properties, and a similar sensory acceptance, BF, SM, and QF had to be effectively massaged for 12, 6, and 4 h, respectively.

Introduction

By way of loosening of and damaging meat structure, massaging causes an increase in brine sorption and protein extraction into intercellular spaces and to the outside, myofibrils and muscle fibres swelling at the same time (Rahelić & Milin, 1979, Tyszkiewicz, 1995). The consequences include changes in both the structure and texture of meat, the changes increasing with massaging time (Katsaras & Budras, 1993, Müller, 1989, Theno et al., 1978a, Siegel et al., 1978).

Numerous workers found the muscles of slaughtered animals to differ both in texture (Dransfield, 1977, Harris & Shorthose, 1988, Shackelford et al., 1995) and in structure (Dransfield, 1977, Karlson et al., 1993, Payne et al., 1992, Wiklund et al., 1998). The muscles were also shown to differ in their susceptibility to tenderisation (Motycka & Bechtel, 1983, Savell et al., 1977, Shackelford et al., 1989). It can thus be assumed that different muscles will require different massaging parameters, including time.

The present work was aimed at following effects of massaging time on texture and structure of three pork ham muscles.

Section snippets

Raw materials

The materials for ham manufacture were selected and the manufacture process itself carried out at the MasAR Food Industry and Experimental Production Plant, Agricultural University of Szczecin.

A total of 85 pork hams were selected from half-carcasses stored for 24 h at 4 °C; ham pH was 5.8–6.0 and green weight about 8–9 kg. Each ham was skinned, boned, and freed of external fat. The following three major muscles were dissected out from each ham: Quadriceps femoris (QF), Biceps femoris (BF), and

Texture

The highest hardness and chewiness were shown by the Biceps femoris (BF), the lowest values of those parameters being shown by the Quadriceps femoris (QF); the latter muscle was characterised by the highest cohesiveness (Fig. 1). No significant textural differences (P⩾0.05) between QF and the Semimembranosus (SM) were found.

Massaging resulted in a reduction of textural parameters of all the muscles massaged, compared to the non-massaged controls. Depending on the massaging time, the rate of

Discussion

BF was shown to have the highest hardness, chewiness, and the sums of elastic moduli and sums of viscous moduli. Somewhat lower values of those parameters were recorded in SM, while still lower values were typical of QF. A higher hardness of BF relative to QF or SM was demonstrated by, i.e. Dransfield, 1977, McKeith et al., 1985, Pezacki, 1997, while Sobczyk et al. (1999) reported higher elastic and viscous moduli.

The histological analysis revealed BF to have fibres of a higher cross-sectional

Conclusions

To sum up, it can be concluded that BF is characterised by fibres of a higher cross-sectional area as well as by thicker perimysium and endomysium; it is also harder, more elastic, and more viscous than QF and SM.

The coarser structure of BF is more resistant to mechanical forces during massaging, which interferes with brine diffusion into the fibres and slows down the rate of their swelling. For this reason, a significant reduction of hardness and elasticity and the remaining textural

References (40)

  • Burck, H. Ch. (1975). Utrwalanie. In Technika histologiczna (pp. 62–63). Warszawa: Państwowy Zakład Wydawnictw...
  • R.D Cassidy et al.

    Effect of tumbling method, phosphate level and final cook temperature on histological characteristics of tumbled porcine muscle tissue

    Journal of Food Science

    (1978)
  • E Dransfield

    Intramuscular composition and texture of beef muscles

    Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture

    (1977)
  • Drury, R. A. B., & Wallington, E. A. (1980). General staining procedures. In Carleton's histological techniques (pp....
  • T.A Gillet et al.

    Effect of continuous massaging on bind, yield and color of hams

    Journal of Food Science

    (1981)
  • P.V Harris et al.

    Meat texture

  • A Karlson et al.

    Muscle histochemical and biochemical properties in relation to meat quality during selection for increased lean tissue growth rate in pigs

    Journal of Animal Sciences

    (1993)
  • Kłosowska, D., Kłosowski, B., Rosińska, A., Elminowska-Wenda, G., & Skrabka-Błotnicka, T. (1994). Microstructure of...
  • P Knight et al.

    The role of the endomysium in the salt-induced swelling of muscle fibres

    Meat Science

    (1989)
  • K Lachowicz et al.

    Texture and rheological properties of meat from pigs of different halothane genotypes

    Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture

    (1998)
  • Cited by (36)

    • Impact of raw ham quality and tumbling time on the technological properties of polyphosphate-freecooked ham

      2020, Meat Science
      Citation Excerpt :

      Raw ham quality affected hardness SM of cooked ham while tumbling time had no impact. The fact that tumbling time did not affect hardness is in contrast to Pancrazio et al. (2015) who concluded that the hardness of cooked ham increased with a longer tumbling time while the opposite effect was concluded in the study of Lachowicz et al. (2003). As seen in Table 4, in general, hardness SM was significantly (p < .05) higher for the cooked hams prepared with superior ham quality than those prepared with inferior ham quality.

    • Rice starch and fructo-oligosaccharides as substitutes for phosphate and dextrose in whole muscle cooked hams: Sensory analysis and consumer preferences

      2016, LWT
      Citation Excerpt :

      Other studies also found no effect of FOS on flavour in meat products (Cáceres, García, Toro, & Selgas, 2004; dos Santos, Campagnol, Pacheco, & Pollonio, 2012; García, Cáceres, & Selgas, 2006). Finally, muscle type was related to juiciness, springiness, saltiness and tenderness (Fig. 3, Table 4), with the Bicep femoris hams less tender (mean value 5.9), springier (5.2), saltier (6.2) and juicier (5.1) compared to Semimembranosus (mean values of 6.5, 4.6, 5.5, 4.2, respectively for each attribute), which could be explained partially by the higher cross-sectional fibre area and thicker peri- and endomysium of the Bicep femoris muscle (Lachowicz, Sobczak, Gajowiecki, & Żych, 2003). Table 5 shows the socio-demographic characteristics of the consumers studied.

    • The use of computer-assisted image analysis in the evaluation of the effect of management systems on changes in the color, chemical composition and texture of m. longissimus dorsi in pigs

      2014, Meat Science
      Citation Excerpt :

      However, instrumental evaluations do not generate accurate results in color analysis because they are restricted to selected regions of the product's surface. The analyzed samples have to be compared simultaneously to eliminate the risk of structural changes caused by environmental factors (Brewer et al., 2001; Girolami et al., 2013; Lachowicz et al., 2003; Mancini and Hunt, 2005; Virgili et al., 2003). Computer-aided image analysis is a relatively new instrumental method in analyses of meat quality.

    • Pre-freezing raw hams affects quality traits in cooked hams: Potential influence of protein oxidation

      2012, Meat Science
      Citation Excerpt :

      In addition, the different muscles may behave differently to processing depending on their composition and structure. BF muscle is larger than QF and SM muscles so it requires a longer massaging time to irrigate brine to proteins and undergoes less water loss upon cooking (Lachowicz, Sobczak, Gajowiecki, & Zych, 2003). Chemical composition of cooked hams subjected to frozen/thaw process (F-hams) did not significantly differ from the cooked hams elaborated from fresh muscles (UF-hams).

    View all citing articles on Scopus
    View full text