Article

Effect of Different Brine Injection Levels on the Drying Characteristics and Physicochemical Properties of Beef Jerky

Dong Hyun Kim1,2,, Dong-Min Shin1,, Jung Hoon Lee2, Yea Ji Kim1, Sung Gu Han1,*
Author Information & Copyright
1Department of Food Science and Biotechnology of Animal Resources, Konkuk University, Seoul 05029, Korea.
2Food Research Team, Meat Bank Corporation, Incheon 22650, Korea.

† These authors contributed equally to this work.

*Corresponding Author: Sung Gu Han, Department of Food Science and Biotechnology of Animal Resources, Konkuk University, Seoul 05029, Korea. E-mail: hansg@konkuk.ac.kr.

© Copyright 2021 Korean Society for Food Science of Animal Resources. This is an Open-Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Received: Oct 27, 2021 ; Revised: Nov 12, 2021 ; Accepted: Nov 18, 2021

Published Online: Nov 26, 2021

Abstract

Meat jerky is a type of meat snack with a long shelf life, light weight, and unique sensory properties. However, meat jerky requires a long manufacturing time, resulting in high energy consumption. In this study, beef jerky is prepared by injecting different concentrations of brine at different hot-air drying times (0–800 min). When the brine injection levels are increased to 30%, the drying characteristics of beef jerky, such as drying time and effective moisture diffusivity, are significantly improved owing to the relatively high water content and the formation of porous structures. The physicochemical properties (e.g., meat color, porosity, shear force, and volatile basic nitrogen) of the beef jerky injected with 30% brine are improved owing to the shortened drying time. Scanning electron microscopy images show that the beef jerky structure becomes porous and irregular during the brine injection process. Our novel processing technique for manufacturing beef jerky leads to improved quality characteristics and shortened drying times.

Keywords: Beef jerky; Hot-air drying; Brine injection; Drying characteristics; Physicochemical properties