A survey of selected minerals in ready-to-eat pastırma types from different regions of Turkey using ICP/OES

Abstract

IntroductionPastırma, which is categorized as an intermediate-moisture meat product, is produced from whole muscles obtained from certain parts of beef and water buffalo carcasses. From a single carcass, 16 to 20 different types of pastırma can be produced. Muscles are cured, dried, pressed, redried, repressed, and coated with a paste containing garlic (çemen: garlic, red pepper, paprika, flour ground from Trigonella foenum-graecum seeds, and water), and dried again to achieve a maximum 40% moisture level. This period is complete after approximately 1 month. Pastırma is an increasingly important source of high-value animal protein and is low in fat (1-3).Pastırma is produced in many parts of the world, such as the Middle East, central Asia, and some Mediterranean and European countries (4,5). A lot of dry-cured meat products are produced around the world, such as pastırma, bacon, Bündnerfleisch, ham, and so on, both with and without a heat process. Cured-meat products differ greatly in composition and intended eating quality, but the types of bacteria growing on and in them are similar, due to the fact that the main factors controlling their growth are the same in a wide range of products (6,7). Curing may be combined with other processes, including drying, heating, smoking, and fermentation, but the production of pastırma does not include heating or smoking processes (8).Pastırma is produced from whole muscles that are obtained from certain parts of beef and buffalo carcasses. Pastırma quality is ranked according to the muscles that are used in pastırma production as first, second, and third class (9). Good-quality pastırma is produced from the fillet, shank, leg and shoulder cuts (10). "Sırt" and "kuşgömü" types of pastırma are defined as first class, while "şekerpare" and "bohça-eğrice" types of pastırma are defined as second class. Therefore, the production of sırt, kuşgömü, bohça-eğrice, and şekerpare types of pastırma is generally more widespread than other types of pastırma, due to their high quality.Fresh meat is commonly used for pastırma production in Turkey. However, frozen/thawed meat can also be used. In fact, pastırma made from frozen/thawed meat has similar properties to pastırma made from fresh meat (11). Numerous studies have shown that frozen/thawed meats can be penetrated more rapidly, since the salt penetrates faster than in fresh meats (11,12). Inorganic substances in feed and food represent a severe risk due to their long-term toxicological effects. Some metals, especially heavy metals like Cu and Zn, are essential micronutrients and have a variety of biochemical functions in all living organisms (13). Heavy metals can enter the body of cattle and sheep as

The effect of potassium lactate on the free amino acid composition, lipid oxidation, colour, microbiological, and sensory properties of ready-to-eat pastırma, a dry-cured and dried meat product

“…In the production of pastırma, despite the recommendations made by various researchers to the amount of salt content in end product, producers generally use the traditional method of dry curing. Therefore, the salt and Na contents of pastırma were high (Aksu and Erdemir 2014). The salt content of pastırma was determined in different studies and generally found to be above the desired levels (C ¸akıcı et al 2015;Aksu and Kaya 2001).…”

Changes in the Total Lipid, Neutral Lipid, Phospholipid and Fatty Acid Composition of Phospholipid Fractions during Pastirma Processing, a Dry-Cured Meat Product

“…Pastırma is a traditional meat product produced from beef or water buffalo meat. In pastırma production stages, whole muscles obtained from carcasses are cured/salted, dried, pressed, redried, repressed and redried with cemen paste is added by special methods ( Aksu et al , 2005a ; Aksu and Erdemir, 2014 ; Ceylan and Aksu, 2011 ).…”