Changing the quality of ground meat for sausage products in the process of grinding

Abstract

Fine and thin grinding of meat to transform it into a homogeneous mass in sausage making was investigated. It is shown that meat raw materials with the same chemical composition but different degrees of grinding have different structural and mechanical characteristics that directly affect the quality of ground meat and the yield of finished products. The processes of thin grinding lead to high cutting speeds, which causes the raw materials temperature increase, denaturalization of proteins, change in the water-binding capacity and structural and mechanical properties of ground meat. The physicochemical properties of meat proteins were studied and the relationship between the physicochemical characteristics of ground meat, their effect on SMC, RP of ground meat in the meat grinding for boiled sausage products were determined, which made it possible to determine the optimum grinding duration, taking into account the cutting ability of cutters of different capacities. To this end, ground meat with different ratios of beef, pork and fatback, as well as production formulas for sausage products were used. It is shown that the degree of meat grinding affects the structure of muscle fibers, fat and connective tissues, protein solubility, strength, structure and moisture content of ground meat, which is crucial for obtaining high-quality sausages. It is proved that with increasing meat grinding duration above a certain extreme, the solubility of protein fractions decreases, structural and mechanical characteristics deteriorate, the moisture-binding capacity of ground meat decreases, which depends on the state of myofibrillar proteins forming a coagulation structure. The optimum grinding duration for a doctor’s sausage is 13 min at a humidity of WH=0.673 with the subsequent maximum yield and depends on the chemical composition of raw materials, formulation of sausage products, and type of grinding equipment. Changes in rheological characteristics, water-binding capacity and number of proteins that pass into the liquid phase of ground meat, correlate with each other. The influence of the grinding degree on the microstructure of ground meat from various meat tissues and their combinations was evaluated for the creation of meat grinding control devices and automation of the process.