Effects of brine temperature on ham and bacon processing characteristics
type: CreativeWork
description: Prior to the invention of refrigeration, the addition of salt during meat processing was used for meat preservation. Present day, cured meats have a combination of salts and sodium nitrite that will inhibit most psychrophilic flora (spoilage bacteria) thus increasing shelf life of products. Thermal processing of meat products to an internal temperature of 65˚C to 77˚C is sufficient enough to kill most harmful microorganisms. Brine chillers are used in industry to keep cure at a cool, constant temperature. If brine temperature exceeds 10˚C, along with the addition of erythorbate, there will be a rapid reduction of nitrite to nitric oxide gas which will escape before brine injection. With brine temperatures below 10˚C, the reduction of nitrite to nitric oxide to nitrosylhemochrome will remain in the brine without evaporation, allowing a greater amount of nitrite in the brine available to cure the meat. Research has been conducted at the University of Arkansas on the effects of brine and ham temperature on injection yield, instrumental color, tenderness, and sensory characteristics of cured hams; however, no research has been conducted on the effects of brine temperature on ham and bacon processing and sensory characteristics. Therefore, two experiments were conducted to evaluate the effects of brine temperature on ham and bacon processing characteristics as well as an additional experiment designed to test the effects of a brine and ham temperature combination on processing characteristics. The objective of these experiments was twofold: 1) evaluate the effects of brine temperature on ham and bacon processing characteristics and 2) evaluate the effects of brine temperature and meat temperature on ham processing characteristics. For this set of experiments, a total of 170 pork knuckles and 60 pork bellies were used to evaluate the effects of brine temperature. In the first ham experiment, 111 ham knuckles and 60 bellies were randomly allotted to 1 of 3 brine treatment …
abstract: Prior to the invention of refrigeration, the addition of salt during meat processing was used for meat preservation. Present day, cured meats have a combination of salts and sodium nitrite that will inhibit most psychrophilic flora (spoilage bacteria) thus increasing shelf life of products. Thermal processing of meat products to an internal temperature of 65˚C to 77˚C is sufficient enough to kill most harmful microorganisms. Brine chillers are used in industry to keep cure at a cool, constant temperature. If brine temperature exceeds 10˚C, along with the addition of erythorbate, there will be a rapid reduction of nitrite to nitric oxide gas which will escape before brine injection. With brine temperatures below 10˚C, the reduction of nitrite to nitric oxide to nitrosylhemochrome will remain in the brine without evaporation, allowing a greater amount of nitrite in the brine available to cure the meat. Research has been conducted at the University of Arkansas on the effects of brine and ham temperature on injection yield, instrumental color, tenderness, and sensory characteristics of cured hams; however, no research has been conducted on the effects of brine temperature on ham and bacon processing and sensory characteristics. Therefore, two experiments were conducted to evaluate the effects of brine temperature on ham and bacon processing characteristics as well as an additional experiment designed to test the effects of a brine and ham temperature combination on processing characteristics. The objective of these experiments was twofold: 1) evaluate the effects of brine temperature on ham and bacon processing characteristics and 2) evaluate the effects of brine temperature and meat temperature on ham processing characteristics. For this set of experiments, a total of 170 pork knuckles and 60 pork bellies were used to evaluate the effects of brine temperature. In the first ham experiment, 111 ham knuckles and 60 bellies were randomly allotted to 1 of 3 brine treatment …
author: Peterson, Benjamin Cole
language: en
keywords: Brine Temperature, Bacon, Ham, Cured
date published: 2017-03-01T17:01:07Z
date modified: 2026-07-22T22:26:37Z
provider: University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: http://hdl.handle.net/2142/95561