Identifier

etd-07142006-112623

Degree

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Animal Science (Animal, Dairy, and Poultry Sciences)

Document Type

Thesis

Abstract

Brine incorporation into meat products has become a well established practice in the United States. Brines are used to enhance the eating quality of pork by improving its tenderness and juiciness. Carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide have been used in modified atmosphere packaging as antimicrobial agents and color stabilizers, respectively, to increase the shelf life of retail meats. The objective of this experiment was to analyze the effects of incorporating carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide into brine solutions to subsequently inject into raw chilled pork. Pork loins were injected with brine solutions containing 2.27% phosphates, 3.79% salt and dissolved gas mixtures of 20% CO2:80% N2, 80% CO2:20% CO or 100% CO2. Pork loins injected with brine solution containing no gas were used as a control. Chops were packaged in high O2 (20% CO2:80% O2) modified atmosphere packaging (MAP), vacuum, no O2 MAP (20% CO2:80% N2), and overwrap packaging and stored for 28 days at 4°C. Pork chops were evaluated every seven days after being displayed under fluorescent light (1200 ± 500 lux) for 48 hrs before evaluation. There were no differences (p ≤ 0.05) in color, percent cook loss, percent drip loss, shear force and total aerobic counts between injection treatments. The change in pH for chops injected with 20% CO2:80% N2 and 80% CO2:20% CO in brine due to the dissolution of carbon dioxide in the tissue was not enough to produce a large bacteriostatic effect. Chops injected with brine containing 80% CO2:20% CO had increased redness when compared with the other samples. Vacuum, high oxygen MAP and no-oxygen MAP increased the shelf life of the pork chops by lowering bacterial growth and maintaining the quality traits for the length of the study as compared with overwrap packages.

Date

2006

Document Availability at the Time of Submission

Release the entire work immediately for access worldwide.

Committee Chair

Kenneth W. McMillin

DOI

10.31390/gradschool_theses.1264

Download

Share

COinS