ABSTRACT
The water-holding capacity (WHC) of meat affects its characteristics and is a crucial criterion for assessing meat quality. However, there is no precise analytical method for determining meat WHC. This study aimed to develop a precise and widely applicable method to determine the WHC of turkey and pork samples. A filter-paper press method was used to present WHC as water content (%) before and after pressing (WHC1) or water content (%) after pressing relative to the fat-free dry matter components of the tested meat (WHC3). In cases where pressing released both fat and muscle juice, procedures to calculate WHC2 or WHC4 were applied. This increased the precision of WHC values calculated using formulas 1 and 3 (for WHC1 and WHC3 values, respectively). Expressing WHC as WHC3 ensured absolute precision in determining WHC. This study successfully developed a reference analytical method for accurately determining meat WHC.
ABSTRACT
The aim of this study was to determine the influence of cutting methods on the fiber structure and quality attributes of the cooked pork loin muscle. The culinary portions were cut perpendicularly (D, diagonal) or along the muscle fibers (P, parallel). The samples were heated to 72⯰C in water bath (85⯰C or 95⯰C), steam (100⯰C), or oven (125⯰C or 150⯰C). The P samples had a significantly smaller cooking loss (2-4.5%), greater water-holding capacity (3-5%), and lower shear force (0.35-2.2â¯N) than D samples except for the 100P, whose cooking loss was higher (by 1.9%) than the 100D. Heat-induced structural changes in the muscle, sarcomere shortening, and destruction of the perimysium and endomysium were affected by the cutting methods and cooking conditions. The findings justify the advisability of cutting individual culinary portions from pork loin muscle in parallel to the muscle fibers in order to increase raw meat efficiency.