Abstract:

Porcine longissimus dorsi muscles were cut into 1 cm × 1 cm × 1 cm cubes and immersed in aqueous solution
of different NaCl concentrations (5%, 10%, 15%, 20% and 25%, m/m), and then changes in the total weight, and salt and
water contents of pork during curing were measured. By doing so, our objective was to obtain mass transfer kinetic data of
pork during curing and the optimum curing conditions. The results showed that the brine concentration and curing time were
significantly affected the mass transfer of pork during the curing process. Total weight and water content decreased with
increasing concentration brine while NaCl content exhibited the opposite trend. All these three indicators changed obviously
during the first hour of curing and then tended to be stable. In 15% brine, the pork yield was greater, and NaCl diffusion
rate (De) was higher, suggesting that this brine concentration is more suitable for curing pork. In addition, the mass transfer-based
predictive models developed for the above three indicators exhibited good linear relationships and were useful for this study.

Key words: pork, curing, mass transfer dynamics, mathematical modeling