Radio frequency cooking of ground, comminuted and muscle meat products

The effect of radio frequency (RF) cooking, on the quality (colour, water holding capacity, texture), heating rate, and temperature history of three types of meat products (ground, comminuted and muscle), was investigated after heating to centre temperature of 72 °C in a 1.5 kW RF heater operating at 27.12 MHz. The results were compared with that obtained from heating in a water bath. RF cooking of processed meat products resulted in a decreased cooking time (5.83, 13.5, and 13.25 min for ground beef, comminuted meat, and muscle, respectively compared to 151, 130, and 109 min in water bath), lower juice losses, acceptable colour, water holding capacity and texture. The results indicate that when using RF, ground beef has the highest power efficiency (60.17%) followed by comminuted meat (44.41%), and muscle (43.38%). However, the texture of ground beef was too chewy and elastic. The muscle's colour was inferior. The comminuted and muscle meat products exhibited average energy efficiency with improved texture. The comminuted meat displayed a large cross-sectional temperature differential, possible due to uneven salt distribution. The well mixed comminuted and ground meat products appeared to be most promising for RF cooking.