Bacteriology and Meat Quality of Moisture Enhanced Pork from Retail Markets in Canada
Citation
Wendler, K. R., Nattress, F. M., Roberts, J. C., Larsen, I. L., & Aalhus, J. (2017). Bacteriology and Meat Quality of Moisture Enhanced Pork from Retail Markets in Canada. Journal of Food Research, 6(1), 95.
Plain language summary
Some fresh-meat in North America is injected with brines to improve moisture and juiciness in a procedure known as moisture enhancement. There have been concerns that moisture enhancement procedures result in higher levels of bacteria found on meat. The purpose of this study was to compare the eating quality and bacterial counts between moisture enhanced and conventional pork chops obtained from Canadian retailers. Moisture enhanced pork chops received higher ratings for eating quality in terms of moisture and juiciness from trained panellists compared to conventional chops. However, moisture enhanced pork also had higher levels of surface discolouration. Previous research has shown that consumers tend to avoid discoloured meat. Counts for some groups of spoilage bacteria were higher in the moisture enhanced chops than in conventional chops. Further research is required to determine how changes to brine composition could reduce the discolouration seen in moisture enhanced pork chops.
Abstract
Packages of moisture-enhanced and conventional pork chops were collected from six Canadian retail stores on five sampling days. The composition of injection brines differed between retailers, but all contained polyphosphates and salt as main ingredients. Meat quality characteristics and bacteriology were analyzed from collected meat samples. Moisture enhanced chops had a higher pH and a higher water holding capacity than conventional. Juiciness and overall tenderness were improved in moisture enhanced chops. The surfaces of moisture enhanced chops were discoloured; the chops were darker and displayed less colour saturation. Total numbers of aerobes, psychrotrophs and lactic acid bacteria were not affected by moisture enhancement but numbers of Enterobacteriaceae, pseudomonads and Brochothrix thermosphacta, bacteria frequently associated with microbial spoilage, were approximately 1 log CFU·g-1 higher in moisture enhanced samples. This work shows moisture enhancement with injection brines containing salt and phosphates can result in a more palatable product.