Turkey Jerky as a Potantial Meat Snack

Abstract

The research was aimed to obtain a product with high nutritional value and long shelf life called as Turkey Jerky. It was produced with turkey breast meats which marinated with 7 different spices (Salvia rosmarinus (R), Thymus vulgaris (T), Pimenta racemosa (P), Origanum majorona (M), mixed spicy (MX) and control group (C)), vinegar, olive oil, soy sauce and liquid smoke. At the end of the marination, turkey breast meats were dried in the drying oven and kept in room conditions for 30 days after vacuum packaging. Microbiological, chemical, and sensory analyses were performed for treatments on the 0, 15 and 30 days. For turkey meat, the moisture, pH, ash, water activity (aw), fat and protein contents were determined as 72.34± 1.21, 5.83 ± 0.02, 1.18 ± 0.01, 0.972 ± 0.001, 1.05 ± 0.12 and 27.30 ± 0.24 %, respectively. There were significant differences in treatments all chemical properties than control samples. Salvia rosmarinus and Pimenta racemosa samples had the highest protein and ash content; Origanum majorona samples had the highest fat content. After marination, both moisture content and water activity values for all samples had decreased significantly. Otherwise, pH values had increased slightly. TBA value was found in the least control group for the beginning of the storage and the treatments had increasing effect on TBAs values. Origanum majorona samples and Pimenta racemosa samples had lower TBA values than other treatments. However, control and Origanum majorona samples have highest the differences between 0 and 30 days for TBA values. Besides, mix spicy treatment had the lowest differences for 30 days. According to the microbiaological analyses, Origanum majorona samples were the most safety treatment. For all samples, it has been observed that the microbial load increases slightly during the maintenance period. Sensory evaluation also dedicted that Origanum majorona samples had the best sensorial properties and general accaptibility. As a result, while the increases in microbial load was not observed much compared to a product that is vacuum packed and stored in room conditions, the chemical contents of the products were generally preserved. Considering these results, the turkey jerky is an alternative healthy snack.