Effect of various concentrations of lactic acid and sodium chloride on selected physico-chemical meat traits

The aim of the research was to determine water binding and holding capacity and to measure the force and work of penetration of minced pork and beer cured with brine of varying concentrations of sodium chloride and lactic acid and then heated. M. biceps femoris was cut out from chilled polk and beef carcasses three times from each species. Minced meat was subjected to curing. Each of the 20 experimental treatments resulted from appropriate combinations of salt (0.0 2.0%) and lactic acid (0.0-1.5%). The individual concentrations of these two compounds differed by 0.5%. The addition of the curing brine containing only sodium chloride or only lactic acid caused an increase of water holding and binding capacity. The additions of curing brines containing various concentrations of mixtures of salt and acid cause lowering of water holding and binding capacity. Higher penetration force and work had to be applied for pork than for beef samples. With the increase of salt and lactic acid concentrations applied together, after the initial increase of the penetration force and work, their values were found to decrease at higher concentrations of mixtures of these substances in meat. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.