Canadian Institute of Food Science and Technology Journal
Effect of Meat Protein Fractions on Textural Characteristics of Meat Emulsions1
Introduction
Texture has been regarded as one of the most important properties of fresh meat, especially steaks and roasts. In contrast, texture of processed meats such as wieners has received little attention. Recently, Roberts (1974a) has stated that a desirable characteristic of wieners is that of a firm and resilient texture. The factors contributing to such a texture are relatively unknown.
High fat levels (Baker and Darfler, 1975) and increased protein levels (Baker et al., 1969; Simon et al., 1965) produced firmer frankfurters; raising or lowering the pH from the normal (pH 6.1) resulted in softer and mushier poultry frankfurters (Baker et al., 1970). Webb et al. (1975) demonstrated that lipid and sausage emulsion processing temperatures affect the final texture of the product.Baker et al. (1972) stated that other factors affecting texture of frankfurters include emulsification of the fat, binding of the water in the formula and binding of the meat.
Monagle et al. (1974) demonstrated that processing conditions which encompass a stepwise temperature increase, a lowering of the relative humidity and an increase in air flow in the smokehouse resulted in a firmer and more acceptable frankfurter texture. The addition of various protein additives at high replacement levels for the meat component has been shown to be detrimental to the textural characteristics of wieners (Randall et al., 1976) and fresh sausages (Thomas et al., 1973).
These latter results would indicate that for certain compositions, there was an insufficient amount of available meat protein in the formulation to provide the characteristic textural properties. Although numerous researchers have shown that the various muscle protein fractions are major contributors to the texture of fresh meats, the effects which these protein fractions have on the textural qualities of comminuted meat products, specifically wieners, has been largely neglected.
The objective of this study was to determine the effect of the salt soluble protein and connective tissue fractions of beef on the textural characteristics of model meat emulsion systems.
Section snippets
Experimental Procedures
The effect on textural characteristics of the addition of salt soluble protein (SSP) and connective tissue (CT) fractions, extracted from beef neck meat, at various concencentrations to non-meat emulsion systems was examined in the initial phase of this study. The second phase involved the addition of these fractions at two levels, 1.25% and 2.50%, to a simulated meat emulsion system. This latter system, in which 40% of the beef was replaced with a hydrated soy protein (Promine D) product, had
Results and Discussion
Initial studies were performed with model systems, based on soy (Promine D) and whey (ENPRO 50) protein, which thermally coagulate and set-up sufficiently to enable measurement of the textural characteristics. The high temperature (85°C) used with the soy protein based emulsion (Formula 1-—Table 1) caused the CT to be converted to gelatin necessitating a search for a protein system which thermally coagulated and set-up at a temperature closer to that used in wiener processing. Several systems
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Contribution No. 277 from Food Research Institute and No. 609 from Engineering Research Service