Abstract:

The microbial, physical and chemical changes during ham preparation were investigated in this study. Results showed that Micrococcus and Staphylococcus were dominant microorganisms during ham preparation and reached 105 CFU/g in final products. However, the amounts of Enterobacteriaceae, Pseudomonas and Brochothrix thermosphacta exhibited a gradually declining trend during ham preparation and were less than 10 CFU/g in final products. Moreover, water content and activity (aw) of water usually exhibited a declining trend during ham preparation. Therefore, water content and aw were approximately 50% and 0.82 in final products, respectively. An increasing trend for salt content was observed so that salt content could reach 5.5% in final products. Although pH decreased from raw meat to late stage of curing and then increased from late stage of curing to the final process, pH was always less than 7.0 in the whole preparation process and 6.5 in final products.

Key words: ham, microbial change, physical and chemical changes, dominant microorganisms