Carcass maturity and dicationic salts affect preblended, low-fat, low-sodium restructured beef

Area of Science:

• Meat Science
• Food Chemistry
• Food Processing

Background:

• Restructured beef products offer opportunities for utilizing lower-value cuts.
• Optimizing the texture and yield of low-fat, low-sodium meat products is a key challenge.
• Dicationic salts can influence protein functionality and water-holding capacity in meat systems.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the effects of magnesium chloride (MgCl2) and calcium chloride (CaCl2) preblending on low-fat, low-sodium restructured beef.
• To evaluate the impact of these salts on raw and cooked quality attributes, including pH, yield, solubility, and texture.
• To determine if muscle maturity (A- vs. C-maturity) influences the effectiveness of dicationic salt treatments.

Main Methods:

• Restructured beef products were formulated with A- and C-maturity muscles.
• Preblending involved 12-hour treatment with MgCl2, CaCl2, or a combination, along with sodium tripolyphosphate (STPP).
• Key quality parameters including pH, cook yield, protein solubility, collagen content, cohesiveness, and hardness were analyzed.

Main Results:

• CaCl2 decreased pH and cook yield, while increasing cohesiveness.
• MgCl2 increased cook yield and myosin solubility, with greater solubility observed in C-maturity muscle.
• Dicationic salt treatments affected hardness differently based on muscle maturity, increasing it in A-maturity and decreasing it in C-maturity products.

Conclusions:

• Dicationic salts, particularly MgCl2, show potential for improving yield and protein solubility in restructured beef.
• The interaction between dicationic salts and muscle maturity significantly influences product texture and processing outcomes.
• Further research can optimize salt concentrations and combinations for specific restructured beef applications.