RESTRUCTURED PORK WITH TEXTURE VARIATION

Muscles were excised from the shoulders of U.S. No. 1 pork carcasses within 1h postmortem. Samples were flaked as; small (head opening = 3.0mm), medium (head opening = 6.1mm) and large (head opening = 9.9mm) with an Urschel Comitrol 3600. Samples were formulated with 1.0 NaCl and 0.25% sodium tripolyphosphate (STP), converted into 19 mm thick restructured chops and packaged. Subjective evaluations were conducted after 5 and 56 days of frozen storage for color, cohesiveness, muscle cut resemblance, overall appearance, tenderness, juiciness, connective tissue amount and flavor. Objective measurements included Hunter Color values, shear force, percentage cooking loss and Thiobarbituric Acid (TBA) values. Results suggested that large flaked particles contributed to improved color and reduced cooking loss. Particle size had no effect on muscle cut resemblance, overall appearance, juiciness and flavor. Increased particle size was responsible for decreased tenderness, cohesiveness and TBA values but increased connective tissue amount.