Dried meat. II. the growth of moulds on dried meat

Abstract

July, 1114s simplicity in operntion nnd giving optimal qunlity in both the raw and precooked product. At this teniperature the time required to dry raw meat was considerably longer thnn for precooked meat, mainly on nccount of very slow drying in the later stnges. A great improvement ivns brought nbout by remilicing nfter nbout 75-85y0 of the original moisture hod been removed (Fig. 2). Howdver. after a fnir trial i t wns renlised that the qunlity of dried raw nient was, at its best, not equal to that of dried precooked meat. Further, the risks of bncterinl contaminntion and proliferation during drying were much liiglier nnd on nil counts, therefore, tlic drying of rnw meat wns considered inferior to that of precooked. Nevertheless, should it appear in the future that dried rnw meat possesses any ndvnntnge (e.g., from the nutritionnl or technicnl point of view) these results show that it is quite fcnsible nnd mny forni a bnsis for commercial dcvelopment. Propertics of air-driecl meatIn the dry statc the ment was dnrk brown in colour and conrsely' grnnulnr in form. Enten in thc dry state it hnd little flavour and wns likely to be hard and gritty on account of the dry unnltered collagen which it contained. When moistened, dried prccooked meat reabsorbed wnter easily. If, as was found to be preferable, thc ment WRS only lightly cooked before drying, it needed to be cooked for e l hour after it wns reconstituted t o prepare it for the table. The meat, so prepnred, wns prnctically indistinguishable from cooked fresh minced meat.Air-dried raw meat did not reabsorb moisture so readily nnd needed to be soaked for several hours before cooking. The cooked mince tended to be rather drier in texturc thnn fresh mince nnd to have n slight " twice-cooked " flavour.The loose, grnnulnr, dried ineat hnd a bulk density of about 0.5. If full ndvnntnge were to hc token of thc poteutial saving in storage spnce nfforded by the removnl of water, it was necessary to increase the density of packing by compression. By comparatively light pressure-300 to 400 Ib. per sq. in.-the density was increased to nenrly 1.0. With dried nieat of the composition Rimed nt, the pressure that could be applied n t ordinnry temperatures wns limited to about 1OOO-1200 Ib. per sq, in. Above this pressure fat wns CXtruded. The blocks so formed were slightly elnstic, but by compressing in moulds about 3 in. less in each dimension than the container to be used, it was easily possible to pack dried meat a t n density of 1 g. per C.C. of the container volume. This wns ndopted as the stnndnrd pack. The great ndvnntagc of partinl, as compared with full, precooking lay in the preservation of the structure of tho compressed dried meat prepnred by the former process. The slightest breakdown of collngen to gelatin during precooking caused an incrense in brittleness of the grnnulcs of dried meat, with the consequence thnt thc reconstituted mince contained n proportion of unplensnnt, fine " sludge." This wns pnrticulnrly evident in thc cnse of meat cooked under pressure. C...

The Germination of Mould Spores at Controlled Humidities

“…The factors influencing the growth of moulds on various stored products have been described by several authors. These include observations on book-binding materials by Groom & Panisset (1933), on textiles by Galloway (1935), on leather by Colin-Russ (1940), on dried meat by Macara (1943), and on feeding stuffs by Snow, Crichton & Wright (1944). It has been shown that the development of moulds on various materials is conditioned by the relative humidity of the storage atmosphere rather than by the moisture content of the materials themselves.…”

FREEZE‐DRIED MEAT. III. NON‐OXIDATIVE DETERIORATION OF FREEZE‐DRIED BEEFa

“…The possible non-oxidative deteriorative reactions in freeze-dried beef during storage are rather limited. The moisture content is so low that mold growth may be eliminated from consideration (11). Also, enzymatic reactions would be non-existent or a t least negligible a t this moisture level.…”