15F-13 |
Quick rehydrating intermediate moisture whole muscle meats for shelf stable meals |
B. L. KENT, Combat Feeding Program, Advanced Processes & Packaging Team, U.S. Army Natick Soldier Center, AMSSB-RCF-A (N) Rm. E-107, 15 Kansas St., Natick, MA 01760 and T. C. S. Yang. Whole muscle meats add palatability and familiarity to shelf stable meals. Quick rehydrating intermediate moisture whole muscle meats offer a shelf stable and economical alternative to freeze-dried meats, and a textural advantage over jerky-type products. Intermediate moisture products retain more native sensory attributes than low moisture dried products. Although intermediate moisture meat products like shelf stable restructured meats have existed for years, there are no quick rehydrating intermediate moisture whole muscle meats commercially available. Our objective was to use a combination of moisture-removing and tenderizing steps (including high temperature moist heat, mechanical tenderization, forced air dehydration, and osmotic infusion) to produce highly palatable, quick rehydrating intermediate moisture whole muscle meats for shelf stable meals. Moist heat treatment of inexpensive cuts of beef and chicken were used to hydrolyze connective tissue to tenderize the meat and remove initial bound water. Mechanical force was applied to tenderize the muscle fibers, increasing the surface area for dehydration and eventual rehydration. Forced air dehydration reduced moisture to approximately 50%. A hypertonic solution was infused by vacuum tumbling to bind and remove remaining bound water. The remaining bound water was removed by further treatment with forced hot air if necessary. Our results showed that a water activity of below 0.85 could be reached by following the preceding methods and shelf stability could be achieved. The products could be rehydrated in approximately 5 minutes in hot water and assembled into highly palatable intermediate moisture shelf stable complete meals. These results suggest that shelf stable intermediate moisture whole muscle meats can be prepared inexpensively using traditional meat processing technology. This technology would have significance in military rations, camping products, instant soups, and other avenues of food processing.
Session 15F, Product Development
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