Effect of the tumbling process and kappa-carrageenan usage on the quality characteristics of meat loaf

Abstract

In this study the authors aimed to determine the effects of the tumbling process and carrageenan usage on the physicochemical, microbiological and sensory properties of meat loaves, which are uncommon in Turkey and only produced at a sub-industrial level. The meat loaves were produced from beef (rib and chuck regions) and layer hen meat and partitioned equally into three groups. The first group served as a control group, whereas the second and third groups were processed by tumbling for 1 and 2 h, respectively. The tumbling programme involved 20 millibar pressure, with 3 min of operation and 1 min of stoppage. After tumbling, each group was divided into two equal parts, followed by the addition of 1% carrageenan to one part of each. This production was repeated, and the meat loaves were stored at 4°C. Physicochemical, microbiological and sensory analyses of the final products were performed on the 0th, 3rd, 7th, 12th and 15th day of storage for assessing the product quality. The utilisation of carrageenan increased the beef and chicken meat loaves by 0.69% and 1.85%, respectively. The carrageenan reduced cooking loss by an average of 5% relative to the control group. The cutting and sensory properties of the groups produced by both tumbling and the addition of carrageenan exhibit higher scores than the other groups (P < 0.05). The average of the pH, aw, salt%, dry matter%, ash% and fat% in the beef meat loaves are 6.26, 0.938, 0.988, 31.52, 2.30 and 4.64, respectively, whereas corresponding values for chicken meat loaves are 6.26, 0.927, 1.23, 35.80, 2.18 and 7.38, respectively for the control groups. Yeast-mould growth was absent in all samples, containing 2.90-6.05 log10 CFU/g TMAB, 2.00-4.27 log10 CFU/g Micrococcus–Staphylococcus and 0-3.62 log10 CFU/g Enterobacteriaceae.