Boning and Storage Temperature Effects on the Attributes of Soft Jerky and Frozen Cooked Free-flow Mince

ABSTRACTHot or cold boning and frozen or chilled storage of beef for 1mo had no effect on sensory panel acceptability of soft beefjerky (easier to chew than traditional jerky) processed usinga two step drying method and a frozen cooked free-flowmince (ground beef) made from the beef. For jerky, panelscores for texture and overall acceptability decreased withincreased peak force and softness scores increased withincreased final yield. Sensory panelists disliked the grey-ish-brown color of the cooked free-flow mince. The mostacceptable free-flow mince was produced by cookingAlogs@ to 73°C, then mincing at 2 6°C. The degree of free-flowness and the amount of fines tended to increase withdecreasing mincing temperature.Key Words: soft jerky, free flow mince, boning, sensory INTRODUCTION J ERKY AND TOPPINGS ARE AMONG THE MOST POPULAR ADDED -value meat-based products manufactured from imported New Zealandmanufacturing beef (McBeth and Swan, 1997). Jerky products areconvenient and nutritious and production takes 10-24h in tempera-ture controlled rooms (Chang et al., 1996). The resulting jerky isoften brittle, over-dry, difficult to chew, and may have undesiredcolor. The texture can be altered by increasing the moisture content,as is done for other intermediate moisture meats. Methods of pro-ducing intermediate moisture meats included extrusion and infusionof meat chunks with humectants to lower water activity (Chang etal., 1996). We developed a process for manufacturing soft texturedjerky products from beef, venison and salmon using a 2-step dryingprocess modified from that described in Igene et al. (1990). Process-ing time was about 3h and all products had excellent shelf stability,appearance and texture at ambient (<238C) temperature.A related product of commercial interest is frozen free-flow beefmince. Chilled mince particles tend to stick together, which limitsthe use of mince where flow is required, especially when discreteparticles are needed as in soups, or pizzas, etc. The applicability ofground beef would be broadened if it could be stored and used as afrozen, free-flow, pre-cooked product. Sephton et al. (1994) preparedindividually quick frozen (IQF) beef by dicing the meat into cubesor strips, which were then spread onto wire mesh trays and quickfrozen (2208C). The vacuum-packed IQF meat pieces tended toclump during frozen storage. Other work in our laboratories (unpub-lished data) indicated that the particle size, temperature at time ofsize reduction, packaging, and length of frozen storage all affectedthe quality of raw free-flow mince from beef. Tyring (1987) describeda process for manufacturing an IQF pizza-topping that involved grind-ing frozen beef trimmings, mixing the ground beef with vegetablesand spice blends, followed by cooking. The cooked product was thenspread on perforated trays to be pre-chilled before freezing in a tum-ble freezer.Information about how processing conditions for soft jerky andfree-flow toppings such as cooked mince may affect product charac-teristics is scarce. Our objective was to determine the effects of hot-or cold-boning and meat storage (chilled or frozen) on physical andsensory properties of soft beef jerky and a frozen precooked free-flow minced topping.