Evaluation of High Humidity and Wet Marinade Methods for Pasteurization of Jerky

Authors

Karin E. Allen, Utah State UniversityFollow
Daren P. Cornforth, Utah State University
D. Whittier
M. N. Vasavada
B. A. Nummer

Document Type

Article

Journal/Book Title/Conference

Journal of Food Science

Volume

72

Issue

7

Publisher

Wiley-Blackwell

Publication Date

2007

First Page

C351

Last Page

C355

Abstract

The USDA FSIS meat and poultry jerky compliance guidelines recommend a high humidity or liquid immersion pasteurization step before drying. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of high humidity (>90%) or wet marinade pasteurization on jerky characteristics (water activity, moisture/protein ratio, total aerobic plate count [TAC]) and sensory properties. Jerky pasteurized by nonmarinade method A (76.6 °C dry bulb, 54.4 °C oven wet bulb temperature for 1 h) had highest sensory scores for spice intensity and interior cured color (redness), and generally lower TACs than jerky from marinade pasteurization methods. Jerky pasteurized by method B (54 °C for 121 min in marinade) had higher TACs than other methods. Approximately 2-log reduction in TAC was observed using marinade pasteurization in the smokehouse to internal temperature of 60° for 12 min (method C), or in hot marinade to internal temperature of 70 °C before drying (method D), but jerky was less spicy and somewhat darker than jerky from method A. Extruded jerky (1.5-cm thickness) was similar to intact jerky for spice flavor intensity and interior redness, but required longer drying time to reach the target Aw of 0.85. Marinade pasteurization by methods C or D was feasible, and may be a preferred alternative for some processors, since monitoring of oven humidity during pasteurization is not necessary.

Comments

Originally published by Wiley-Blackwell. Publisher's PDF and HTML fulltext available through remote link.

Recommended Citation

Allen K, Cornforth DP, Whittier D, Vasavada MN, Nummer BA. 2007. Evaluation of high humidity and wet marinade methods for pasteurization of jerky. J Food Sci. C351-5.