HYDRO-MECHANICAL PROCESSING OF RAW BEEF BY MASSAGING: THEORETICAL BASICS AND PRACTICAL

Upgrading of the equipment for hydro-mechanical processing of raw meats is important both in terms of ensuring the proper profitability of production and in terms of providing consumers with valuable protein meat products of excellent taste. Salting of raw meats, which is related to hydro-mechanical processing, is a complex process embracing mass exchange, transformations of protein and other substances, changes in the water-holding capacity of meat, changes in its microstructure, etc. There are different approaches to the machine and apparatus design and technological modes of hydro-mechanical processing of raw meats. Meat massagers / tumblers used in industry are equipped with devices for cooling and vacuuming the working space. Active research is being conducted to determine the rational duration of work / standstill during processing of raw materials in a drum. For beef, it is recommended to use the mode of alternating 30 min of work with 30 min of standstill for 8-12 h or other modes. The purpose of the article is to present and logically substantiate the results of studies of massaging the processing of meat raw materials in the drum of the massager under different modes of technological processing. Massaging of raw meats was carried out using a laboratory unit for wet salting of meat raw materials (drum massager) Ya5-FMS of our own design. Rheological characteristics were determined using an electromechanical universal testing machine SANS CMT2503. The duration of salting of raw meats depends on their type and quality characteristics, morphological composition, pH, degree of autolysis, mass and shape of meat cuts, quantity, quality and temperature of brine, as well as on the efficiency of the equipment used. Even more effective penetration of curing ingredients is achieved by using a pulsating vacuum, in which the processed meat raw materials are exposed to alternating loads: atmospheric pressure – vacuum. An increase in the intensity of hydro-mechanical processing of raw meats causes corresponding changes in the structure of muscle fibers – their swelling, the occurrence or increase of transverse-slit integrity violations, disruption of membrane structures, loosening and swelling of myofibril proteins. All of the above indicates that the use of pulsating vacuum and drum cooling not only improves, but also significantly accelerates the process of wet salting of raw meats raw materials in the production of ham products. The use of vacuuming in general and pulsating vacuuming in particular contributes to the intensification of the process of wet salting of raw meats. Therefore, the use of massagers with cooling and a pulsating vacuum system is an optimal design solution in terms of product quality and acceptable production profitability for meat processing enterprises.