Processed Meats

Flashcards covering key concepts related to processed meats, including historical aspects, ingredient specifications, regulations, and safety benefits.

Sun-drying

The earliest form of meat processing.

Sumerians and Babylonians

Ancient cultures that first processed meat around 4000-3500 BC.

Salsus

Means 'salted' and refers to the product sausage.

Types of treatments to create processed meat

Mechanical, chemical, enzymatic.

Processed meat changes

Taste, appearance, keeping quality, value.

Percent of pork that is further processed

~80%.

Percent of beef that is further processed

~80%.

Percent of beef that becomes ground beef

~50%.

Ground beef product labels

Ground beef, ground chuck, ground round, hamburger.

Mechanically separated meat

Used as an ingredient in processed meats.

Restructured products

Meat pieces bound together using salt-solubilized proteins.

Moisture-enhanced products

Meats injected or tumbled with water, salt, phosphates.

Sausage categories

Fresh; uncooked smoked; cooked smoked; dry; semi-dry; loaves/luncheon meats.

Requirement for meat processing

All meat must be wholesome and inspected at every stage.

Main non-meat ingredients

Water, salt, nitrite, phosphates, lactates, sugars, spices, non-meat proteins.

Non-meat proteins examples

Non-fat dry milk, soy proteins, casein.

Ingredient label order

Ingredients are listed from greatest to smallest.

Required label components

Product name, ingredient list, manufacturer, net weight, inspection stamp, plant number, handling instructions.

Max added water in fresh sausage

3%.

Forty Percent Rule

Fat % + added water % = 40.

PFF formula

% meat protein / (100 - % fat) * 100.

PFF requirement for 'Ham'

20.5.

Nitrite in ham limit

200 ppm.

Nitrite in sausage limit

156 ppm.

Nitrite in bacon limit

120 ppm.

Natural nitrite replacement

Celery powder.

Three pigment stages in curing

Oxymyoglobin -> Nitrosomyoglobin -> Nitrosohemochrome.

Heat's role in curing

Turns nitrosomyoglobin into nitrosohemochrome.

Cure accelerators

Sodium ascorbate, sodium erythorbate.

Cure accelerators' effect

Speed up nitric oxide (NO) production.

Regulatory limit for cure accelerators

547 ppm.

Primary antioxidants

BHA, BHT, tocopherols.

Secondary antioxidants

Ascorbate, erythorbate, phosphates.

Oxidation state of oxymyoglobin

Fe2+.

Oxidation state of metmyoglobin

Fe3+.

Preservation benefits of processing

Slows spoilage bacteria, reduces lipid oxidation, reduces pigment oxidation.

Safety benefits of processing

Nitrite and lactates reduce pathogen growth.