Research of the efficiency of tumbling in meat product manufacturing processes during the designing of meat industry enterprises

The aim of this study is to investigate and improve the technological process of producing pork meat products, specifically “Traditional Ham” and “Lviv Ham”, by examining the impact of various mechanical processing modes (tumbling) on the water-binding and water-holding capacities of meat raw materials at different injection solution concentrations. The study utilized injection solutions with concentrations of 15 % and 10 %, comprising salt, the functional preparation “Shynka Spices 100”, and NaNO₂. The research demonstrated that after the first tumbling cycle, there was a significant increase in water-binding capacity (WBC) in both “Lviv Ham” and “Traditional Ham” samples. For “Lviv Ham”, after 50 minutes of tumbling, WBC increased by 37.5 %, while for “Traditional Ham”, it increased by 67.7 %. Subsequent tumbling, following a 10-minute pause, led to additional WBC increases: 5.0 % for “Lviv Ham” and 6.3 % for “Traditional Ham”. The maximum WBC level was achieved after the third tumbling cycle, reaching 52.3 % for “Lviv Ham” and 60.6 % for “Traditional Ham”. The application of brine containing the functional preparation “Shynka Spices 100” enabled achieving a maximum water-holding capacity (WHC) of 87.0 %. The most significant WHC increase occurred during the first 50 minutes of processing, with a 5.23 % rise. Further tumbling in the second cycle increased WHC by 1.7 %, and in the third cycle by 1.3 %. Optimal parameters for tumbling pork pieces weighing 0.15–0.20 kg, when treated with the functional preparation “Shynka Spices 100”, are: processing time (τₐ) – 50 min, pause (τₙ) – 10 minutes, total processing time (τₒ) – 170 minutes, with preparation concentrations of 10 % and 15 % relative to the unsalted raw material mass. Thus, the study confirms the feasibility of applying tumbling in combination with a functional preparation to enhance the water-binding and water-holding capacities of pork, resulting in high-quality meat products with improved functional-technological properties. The findings can be utilized to optimize the technological process of ham and other meat product production under industrial conditions.