title: Acceleration of curing period of pastrami manufactured from buffalo meat: Chemical and microbiological properties.
abstract: Usually the curing period of meat used for pastrami manufacture is three weeks at room temperature. In the present work a trial aimed to accelerate the curing period of pastrami (dry cured meat) prepared from buffalo lean round muscles by heat treatment (approximately 71 degrees C--internal; for partial drying) was carried out to investigate the probable changes during processing and in quality parameters of the end product. Results showed that pH value and the residual NaNO2 content decreased, while lactic acid and conversion in meat pigment percentages were increased. The determined data indicated remarkable decrease of moisture content during aging and curing periods, while the NaCl content in the investigated product was noticeably increased. During pastrami processing soluble proteins were decreased; the sarcoplasmic protein fraction denatured more rapidly than myofibrillar protein. On the other hand, the non-protein nitrogen and the insoluble protein nitrogen were increased gradually during ageing and after the heat treatment step. Slight variations in their values were observed during ripening of pastrami (complete curing and drying in air at room temperature up to 6 days). Heat treatment caused apparent decrease in Aerobic Plate Count (APC). Salmonella and Coliform bacteria were not detected through meat curing and in the end product. The suggested heat-treated pastrami was of good quality and nearly similar to the traditional sample.
authors.affiliation: National Research Centre, Food Technology and Dairy Department, Tahrir Street, ET-Dokki, Cairo, Egypt.
authors.forename: H M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Ibrahim
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002020:Buffaloes; D015169:Colony Count, Microbial; D004755:Enterobacteriaceae / Q000302:isolation & purification; D005511:Food Handling / Q000379:methods*; D006358:Hot Temperature; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D008461:Meat Products / Q000032:analysis / Q000382:microbiology / Q000592:standards; D012475:Salmonella / Q000302:isolation & purification; D012492:Salts; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D012492:Salts