Effects of Three Chopping Methods on Bologna Characteristics

Abstract

Bologna containing 30% fat was prepared by using three commercially employed methods: 1) Build up Method (BM), fat added to the pre-chopped lean meat, 2) Shock Method (SM), fat and lean meat chopped separately and only together at the very last stage, 3) All at Once Method (AM), lean meat and fat chopped together. 12°C was used as the end point chopping temperature for all the treatments. The AM resulted in the smallest amount of fat losses and the firmest product. The SM produced the softest product which was related to the longest time of lean meat chopping. It also resulted in the largest fat globule size which was related to the shortest chopping time of the lean meat and fat together. Scanning electron microscopy did not reveal any major differences among the treatment in either the fat globule morphology or the microstructure of the protein matrices.