applied sciences  
Sous Vide Cooking Effects on Physicochemical, Microbiological and Sensory Characteristics of Pork Loin [PERSON] 1,*\({}^{\circ}\)@, [PERSON] 1,* and [PERSON] 2\({}^{\text{(\text{\text@underline{\text{\text@underline{\text{\text@underline{\text{\text@underline{\text@text@text@text@text@text@text@text@text@text@text@text@text@text@text@text@text@text@text@text@text@text@text@text@text@text@text@text@text@text@text@text@text@text@text@text@text@text@text@text@text@text@text@text@text@text@text@text@text@text@text@text@text@text@text@text@text@text@text@text@text@text@text@text@text@text@text@text@text@text@text@text@text@text@text@text@text@text@text@text@@text@text@text@text@text@text@text@text@@text@text@text@text@text@@text@text@text@text@@text@text@text@text@@text@text@text@@text@text@text@text@@text@text@text@@text@text@text@@text@text@text@@text@text@text@@text@text@text@@text@text@text@@text@text@text@text@text@@text@text@@text@text@text@text@text@@text@text@text@@text@text@text@text@@text@text@@text@text@text@text@text@@text@text@text@text@@text@text@text@@  
hydrolyze, which leads to reduction in interfibre adhesion and to meat tenderness [3; 12]. [PERSON] et al. [13] observed that meat toughness increased between 40 and 50 \({}^{\circ}\)C and then between 60 and 80 \({}^{\circ}\)C, while toughness decline occurred between 50 and 60 \({}^{\circ}\)C. The authors explained the reduction in toughness as a result of decreased breaking strength of the perimysial connective tissue caused by partial denaturation and shrinkage of the collagen fibres. Colour determines the doneness of meat and therefore can affect the consumer's acceptance of a meat product [14; 15]. The well-done state of meat requires reaching internal meat temperature of around 70 \({}^{\circ}\)C [12]. In raw meat, meat pigment myoglobin exists in three forms, i.e., oxymyoglobin, deoxymyoglobin and metmyoglobin, which show bright red, purple-red and brown colour, respectively. As a result of heat treatment, globin denaturates and precipitates with other meat proteins, and red ferrohemochrome and brown ferrihemochrome are formed. Denaturation of myoglobin begins between 55 \({}^{\circ}\)C and 65 \({}^{\circ}\)C and is almost completed by 80 \({}^{\circ}\)C [16; 17]. [PERSON] et al. [15] observed a 51.9% myoglobin denaturation in pork loin chops cooked to 62.8 \({}^{\circ}\)C end point temperature and its gradual increase to 85.3% when end point temperature reached 82.2 \({}^{\circ}\)C. [PERSON] et al. [11] suggested that when prolonged cooking time is applied, denaturation myoglobin occurs below 60 \({}^{\circ}\)C.  
The crucial factor in the sous vide technique is a balanced combination of temperature and cooking time [18; 19]. [PERSON] et al. [3] reported that chefs cook pork primals at 60-63 \({}^{\circ}\)C, while catering temperatures used for pork are around 75-80 \({}^{\circ}\)C. In the literature, sous vide cooking temperatures of pork for eating quality studies start at 48 \({}^{\circ}\)C [20] and reach 71 \({}^{\circ}\)C [21], while cooking times are between 45 min [21] and 32 h [11]. For a study of physical aspects, [PERSON] et al. [22] cooked pork at 45-74 \({}^{\circ}\)C for 10-2880 min. Most publications on sous vide cooking of pork investigate the quality of meat when temperatures between 50 and 60 \({}^{\circ}\)C are applied. [PERSON] et al. [23] suggested that beef sous vide cooking at 60-65 \({}^{\circ}\)C assures its safety and desirable yield and tenderness. In relation to pork safety, recommended end point temperatures range between 65 and 75 \({}^{\circ}\)C [24]. As the literature shows, the ranges of temperature and time regimes applied even to the same meat cuts are very wide, which makes the practical use of this technique quite difficult. Moreover, the emphasis on long cooking times to ensure microbiological safety of meat makes this technique time and energy consuming.