ABSTRACT
The breaking strength (BS) and energy to fracture (EF) of commercial cooked meat products (CMP) manufactured from different entire pieces were determined by tensile test. BS and EF were related to texture profile analysis (TPA) and physico-chemical data. Two textural profiles were characterized mainly by BS, springiness adhesiveness and fat content. Multivariate regression analysis confirms that TPA parameters could be used to construct models to predict BS and EF. Therefore, just one TPA analysis will allow to obtain both TPA and tensile parameters, providing valuable information about mechanical behaviour to improve product handling at industrial level especially in sliced CMP.
Subject(s)
Cooking , Meat Products/analysis , Rheology , Animals , Chemical Phenomena , Chickens , Food Handling/methods , Linear Models , Models, Theoretical , Multivariate Analysis , Reproducibility of Results , Swine , TurkeysABSTRACT
The breaking strength (σ) and stress-strain relation of several muscles [biceps femoris (BF), semitendinosus (ST) and semimembranosus (SM)] and the subcutaneous fat (SF) from a Spanish dry cured ham (Protected Designation of Origin of white ham from "Teruel") have been analysed by the uniaxial tensile test in order to predict the mechanical behaviour of this meat product. Thirty pieces were analysed and the stress-strain curves were obtained. A great dispersion of the σ values was observed. This leads to the necessity of employing statistical analyses to illustrate the extent to which strength values may vary. The Weibull analysis was applied to estimate the fracture probability. SM and SF showed the highest characteristic strength. The low values of the Weibull modulus indicate that dry-cured ham tissues behave as brittle materials. The stress-strain curves present characteristic forms for BF, ST and SM, which may be associated with their composition and the extent to which they are affected by the curing process.
