Validação do processo de cozimento de presunto utilizando termo-registrador do tipo iButton

Abstract

The quality of meat products is a challenge for industries due to meat properties that favor microbial development, such as composition, water activity, and pH. In the manufacture of cooked ham, thermal processing is one of the main steps, which aims to inactivate spoilage and pathogenic microorganisms without interfering with sensorial quality, avoiding loss of texture, color, flavor, and odor. The objective of the study was to validate the thermal processing of cooked ham in a pork industry in Rio Grande do Sul using iButton thermo-recorders, as well as to evaluate microbiological safety, improvement of the manufacturing process, and sensory analysis of the product. To evaluate the ham cooking process, seven cooking tanks were loaded with a maximum capacity of four cages and a maximum number of pieces per cage. Temperatures were checked minute by minute in the four cages of each of the seven cooking tanks, using iButtons thermo-recorders, allowing the identification of the cold point of each tank. Pieces were collected before and after cooking to count mesophilic aerobic microorganisms. Additionally, cooked pieces were collected for analysis of coagulasepositive

Staphylococcus, Clostridium perfringens, Escherichia coli, Salmonella spp., and Listeria monocytogenes. Cooking was evaluated with a stepwise increase in the temperature of the water in the tank, using three and four heating ramps for the cooking water. Subsequently, the ham was subjected to sensory analysis using a hedonic scale from 1 to 9 on the company's premises with 75 untrained evaluators. The average water temperature in each tank varied from 75.65 °C to 76.55 °C. It was possible to identify the cold point of each tank located at points 2C (cage 2 – iButton C) and 4B (cage 4 – iButton B) of the cages and verify that the temperature variation in the tanks did not show significant fluctuations, remaining within the parameters of company quality. In the microbiological evaluation, the cooked ham pieces met the requirements of current legislation. In the sensory evaluation, no significant difference (p>0.05) was observed between the ham samples subjected to cooking in three or four ramps for the attributes of color, flavor, aroma, and overall appearance evaluated using the hedonic scale from 1 to 9 points. Both had good sensory acceptance. It is concluded that the cooking process in tanks and the temperature used by the industry have guaranteed the quality and safety of the product. Staggered cooking in four ramps can be an alternative to add quality to the cooked ham.