Chloride Salt Diffusion in Wet Salting Pork with NaCl-Substitute Salts

Area of Science:

• Food Science
• Meat Science
• Physical Chemistry

Background:

• Wet salting is crucial for meat preservation and flavor.
• Understanding salt diffusion kinetics is key for process optimization.
• Exploring alternative salts is important for sodium reduction strategies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the diffusion kinetics of various salts (NaCl, KCl, MgCl2, CaCl2) in pork during wet salting.
• To model water and salt content changes using Peleg, Weibull, and diffusion models.
• To evaluate the impact of temperature and salt type on mass transfer and equilibrium salt content.

Main Methods:

• Wet salting of pork rump steaks in saturated salt solutions (NaCl, KCl, MgCl2, CaCl2) at different temperatures (1-15 °C).
• Analysis of water content (WC) and salt content (SC) evolution.
• Application of Peleg, Weibull, and diffusion models for kinetic analysis.

Main Results:

• Increased temperature reduced water content but increased salt content and diffusion coefficients.
• The Weibull model accurately predicted WC and SC up to equilibrium.
• KCl exhibited faster mass transfer and higher diffusion coefficients.
• CaCl2 and MgCl2 resulted in higher equilibrium SC compared to NaCl and KCl due to ionic strength and protein interactions.

Conclusions:

• Findings offer insights for optimizing wet salting processes and developing reduced-sodium meat products.
• The study provides a basis for estimating salting times, especially when using KCl solutions.
• Alternative salts like KCl, CaCl2, and MgCl2 present viable options for modifying meat properties during salting.