## 3 Results and Discussion  
### Chemical Composition  
The processing of seasoned and preserved raw meat makes it possible to produce a product with attributes meeting the individual preferences of consumers. Such an effect can also be achieved in the case of preparing jerky-type meat snacks under home and commercial conditions. However, meat puffing is a technological process, which is more difficult to perform and satisfy customer expectations toward the final product [49,50]. Table 1 lists results presenting changes in basic contents in pork muscle slices after MVP. The slices subject to analysis contained more than 80% total protein and less than 4% fat. Statistically significant (\(\alpha\) = 0.05) differences were noticed in the case of total protein and ash mass indicators. The ash content in meat products varied between 2.07% and 3.83%. It is safe to assume that a near double amount of ash content in the sample that underwent preprocessing with the use of papain and NaCl was due to the presence of 5.23% (mean value) of NaCl in the meat products. Chemical composition, especially water content, in meat snack and jerky-type products is decisive both for their texture and shelf life [50]. As shown in other studies [51], meat snacks of this type produced at home are at risk of infection with coliform bacteria (_Escherichia coli_) of 0157:H7 [52, 53, 54] serotype or Salmonella [55]. According to the recommendations of the American Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS, 2014) [40], microbially safe jerky type products are those with an MPR (moisture-to-protein ratio) not exceeding 0.75, dried meat 2.04 and tropic cure pork 3.25 [40], whereas in raw beef, the MPR value is on average 4.5. However, it has been determined that this is not an adequate interpretation of the level of water activity (a\({}_{\text{w}}\)) present in the product. A microbially safe jerky product depends both on the parameters of the drying process of the seasoned meat and on the appropriate selection of components used in the spice blend and functional additives. It also requires proper water activity that is equal to or less than 0.85 (HACCP, 1997) [56]. According to the International Commission of Microbiological Specifications for Foods (ICMSF), a value of 0.85 is the water activity limit for _Staphylococcus aureus_ growth under aerobic conditions and 0.90 under anaerobic conditions. Manufacturers are required to control the ratio of moisture to protein in the final product. The moisture/protein ratio (MPR) is controlled by varying the amount of added water based on the overall product formulation, \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c} \hline \hline
**Type of Sample** & **Water (\%)** & **Protein (\%)** & **Fat (\%)** & **Ash (\%)** & **Moisture-to-Protein Ratio (MPR)** \\ \hline Unmodified pork & 9.03 \(\pm\) 0.07 & 84.97 \({}^{\text{a}}\)\(\pm\) 0.20 & 3.91 \(\pm\) 0.12 & 2.07 \({}^{\text{b}}\)\(\pm\) 0.06 & 0.11 \\ Modified pork & 9.07 \(\pm\) 0.09 & 83.11 \({}^{\text{b}}\)\(\pm\) 0.18 & 3.94 \(\pm\) 0.06 & 3.83 \({}^{\text{a}}\)\(\pm\) 0.27 & 0.11 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}  
Means in the same column with different letters as superscripts indicate that there is a significant difference at \(\alpha\) = 0.05 (n = 6). Type of sample: unmodified pork—without preprocessing modified pork—preprocessing with the use papain and NaCl.  
\end{table} 
Table 1: Chemical composition and MPR ratio in experimental microwave-vacuum dried pork. and primarily by the drying procedure. In some products, the MPR can affect the final microbiological stability of the product, in others, it is important to ensure some elements of the overall product quality, such as the texture. The minimum requirement for all products produced in FSIS-inspected facilities is that they must meet the FSIS policy standards for MPR. However, these prescribed treatments have proved to be insufficiently lethal for some bacterial pathogens. Thus, most of the industry has volunteered to implement more rigorous treatment.