THE INFLUENCE OF TEMPERATURE MODES DURING SALTING AND RESTING STAGES ON THE MASS TRANSFER IN DRY-CURED HAM

摘要

Mass transfer in pork meat pieces was studied at temperatures of 0, 2 and 6 ℃ during the salting and the resting stages, followed by the drying at 2 ℃, 80 % RH. The influence of the different salting temperatures on the moisture losses was investigated. The salting and the drying processes of meat were described by a semi-empirical model using the Fick’s law of diffusion. The effective moisture diffusion for the salting process was between 0.8 10~(-9) and 2.0 10~(-9) m~2 s~(-1), while for the drying stage the value was 2.5 10~(-10) m~2 s~(-1). It was found no significant influence of the salting temperatures in the range between 0 ℃ and 6 ℃ on the osmotic dehydration process or on the drying kinetics of the salted meat. The research on the impact of salting temperature modes on water activity reduction was also carried out.