Meat Science 9 (1983) 79-88

Weight Loss in Frankfurters During. Thermal

Processing

G. S. Mittal
School of Engineering, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada
&
J. L. Blaisdell

Department of Agricultural Engineering, Ohio State University. Columbus, Ohio. USA

(Received: 29 July. 1982)

SUM M A R Y

A simpl~[ied two-term model was developed to predict the weight loss of

frankfitrters during tkermal processing at t'arious process conditions anti
with various pro(htct compositions. The model was validated with the
experimental data. Ttw moisture loss" rate wasfound to be proportional to
prothtct temperature and im'ersely proportional to the fat-protein ratio
of the prothwt.

NOMENCLATURE

A o, A , Constants.
B o, B 2 Constants.
Ct, C3 Constants.
FP F a t - p r o t e i n ratio.
K Drying parameter ( 1/h).
~h Average moisture content (gram of water per gram of dry
emulsion).
m. Equilibrium moisture content (gram of water per gram of dry
emulsion).
mo Initial moisture content (gram of water per gram of dry
emulsion).
79
Meat Science 0309-1740, 83;'$03.00 q~, Applied Science Publishers ltd. England. 1983.
Printed in Great Britain
80 G. S, Mittal, J. L. Blaisdell

Rg Universal gas constant (8310 J/(kg-mole K)).

RH Relative humidity (decimal).
T Temperature (°C).
To Absolute temperature (K).
l Time (h).

INTRODUCTION

Information on the weight loss which occurs during the thermal

processing of meat emulsion products is needed to control the moisture
content in processed Iproducts. At present sausage manufacturers are
controlling final moisture content based on their previous experience.
With the change in process conditions and product composition, new
experiments are required in order to set guidelines for mixing a certain
quantity of water during the emulsion preparation, to control the final
moisture level.
Relatively few studies have investigated the influence of process
variables on the mobility of water in meat emulsion. Monagle et al. (1974)
determined the effects of temperature, humidity and air velocity on weight
changes and temperature profiles in frankfurter. However, the effects of
the fat-protein ratio were not investigated and no mathematical
relationships are available. Agrawal (1976) developed models for
simultaneous heat and mass transfer during the thermal processing of
frankfurter considering liquid and vapour diffusion as alternative modes
of transfer. The need for a large computer for their solution limits the
application of these models in the sausage industry, lgbeka et al. (1976)
determined experimentally the moisture isotherms of bologna for various
process conditions. However, no moisture isotherm data is available for
various sausage compositions.
This paper describes simple models for predicting the weight loss
during thermal processing at various process conditions and the
compositions of the frankfurters. It is hoped that this will provide
assistance in maintaining the desired moisture loss in the product directly,
and the quality of the product indirectly.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

The experimental design chosen was a central rotatable composite design.

For three variables this design consisted of twenty experiments, i.e. eight
 Weight loss in frankfurters during thermal processing 81

TABLE 1
Variables and Their Levels for Experiments

Variable Variable levels

- 1"68 - 1.0 0"0 1.0 1.68

T 58 63 69 76 81
RH 41 48 60 75 87
FP 1"2 1"4 1.9 2-5 3'0

vertices of a cube (2 3 factorial), six centre points for replication and six star
points to make the design rotatable. Table 1 shows the variables and their
level chosen for the investigation. The order of experiments was
completely randomised (Cochran & Cox, 1957).
Sufficient quantities of lean beef and pork fat were taken for these
experiments. Each type of meat was ground separately through a plate
with 4"8 mm diameter holes. The coarse ground meat was well mixed and
thirty samples of about 50 g each were taken randomly from each type.
These samples were combined, mixed and reground (mixed between each
grinding) three times through a 3-2 mm diameter hole plate. This was
done rapidly at low temperature. The reground meat was sub-divided into
six samples. These samples were analysed for protein, fat, ash and
moisture contents using the AOAC methods (AOAC, 1965). Table 2
shows the average results of these analyses.
To achieve the desired fat-protein ratio (FP), relative proportions of
beefand pork meats were taken as indicated in Table 3. In calculating the
FP, only the fat and protein of meats were considered. The allowable
water content in the finished product was considered to be equal to four
times the protein plus I 0 ')'~iof the finished product weight. After mixing,
the meat was partitioned into subsamples of very nearly the same size and

TABLE 2
Axcnigc Rc.~ult.,i of the Analysis of Beet"and Pork

Protein Fat Moisture Ash

(,,,,) (".) (";,) ("j~)

Lean beef 19-8 7-0 72-2 1-0

Pork fat 8-1 63-5 28-I 0"3
82 G. S. 3,1ittal, J. L. Blaisdcll

about 450g in weight. The size was important in order to control the
temperature history of the product during freezing and thawing. The
details are given by Mittal et al. (1982).
Fresh emulsion was prepared before starting each experiment in the
laboratory using a modified Waring blender (Mittal, 1979). The
formulation included non-fat dry milk (3 '.'0), salt (2-5 o,,). sucrose (0.5 "o).
corn syrup solid (2 0,,). spices and curing agents. Protein. fat and water
were added according to the desired FP. Most of the fat was taken from
the pork meat and protein from the lean beef (Table 3).

TABLE 3
Amount of Beef and Pork Required for 625 g" Raw Emulsion

Fat-protein ratio
1"2 14 1.9 2"5 3"0
Mass (g)

Protein 74 71 66 61 57
Fat 87 101 125 151 171
Water and added ice 415 404 385 364 348
Lean beef 334 310 269 223 188
Pork fat 100 125 166 213 248
Water in meat 270 259 241 221 206
Ice to be added 145 145 144 143 142

* The emulsion contains 50 g of other ingredients such as dry milk, corn

syrup solids and spices. The weight of cooked emulsion will be 560 g after
the evaporation of 65 g of water.

A closed loop wind tunnel was used to provide the controlled

environment. The wind tunnel consisted of a fan, a heating and cooling
section, a steam injection system, a drying column and a test section
(Mittal et al., 1982).
The meat emulsion was stuffed into a polyethylene casing, 2"5cm in
diameter and 15 cm long, with the help of a hand-operated stuffer. Weight
losses of these frankfurters were recorded as a function of time during
cooking. Processing was stopped when the product had lost about 13 °/~,,of
its initial weight. Temperatures at various locations of the product were
also recorded by placing thermocouples in a second frankfurter of similar
size. The details are given elsewhere (Mittal, 1979; Mittal & Blaisdell,
1982). The equilibrium moisture contents of the meat emulsion, spread in
 ~ | e i g h t l o s s in J ? a n k f i ~ r t e r s d u r i n g t h e r m a l p r o c e s s i n g 83

thin aluminum foil discs, were recorded for different processing

conditions and formulations by measuring the moisture content of the 1 g
sample after 12 to 16 hours of exposure in the wind tunnel.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Two-term model

The solution of the diffusion equation with a constant moisture diffusivity

can be shown to have the form of a series of negative exponential terms,
regardless of the geometry of the product or the convective or contact
boundary conditions for a step change in surrounding conditions (Chen
& Johnson, 1969). The general form of the solution can be written as:

i l l - m , . _ A o e x p ( _ K t ) + A t e x p ( _ B 1 K t ) + A z e x p ( _ B 2 K t ) (1)
1710 - - t?l e

The symbols are defined in the Nomenclature. The left-hand side of

eqn. (I) is the moisture ratio. The rh is the average moisture content of the
frankfurter; however, the moisture content varied throughout the
product. The moisture distribution in the product during cooking is given
by Mittal & Blaisdell (1982).
Jason (1965) used two- and three-term models for the drying of fish
muscle. He pointed out that, if there is no constant rate drying period and
drying time is relatively small, a two-term model will describe the drying
behaviour in a reasonable manner. Taking two terms in the model,
eqn. (1) can be reduced to:

t h - m,, _ A o e x p ( _ Kt) + A t e x p ( - B IKt) (2)

n l 0 - - D1 e

Since the moisture ratio is 1 at t = 0, A~ = 1 - A o was substituted in

eqn. (2). This further reduces to:

t h - m,, _ A o e x p ( - Kt) + (1 - Ao) e x p ( - B IKt) (3)

171 0 - - tit e

The moisture history during cooking of meat emulsion products at

different formulations and process conditions is described by the above-
mentioned two-term model. The parameters of the model were
determined using a non-linear regression procedure (NLIN) of the
84 G. S. Mittal. J. L. Blaisdell

statistical analysis system (SAS) (Barr et al., 1979). The second

exponential term in the two-term model was found to approach unity due
to the small values of B 1. The second term may be lower than unity at long
processing periods which are larger than the actual process time and
could change the meat emulsion characteristics.
When BI was reduced to zero, the following simple model was fitted:

rh - m e = ( 1 - Ao) + Ao exp ( - Kt) (4)

m o -- m e

The A o was found to be a function of the f a t - p r o t e i n ratio of the

product and a linear model was found to be suitable. The model is given
by:
A o=-1.302+1.444FP, 58<T<80°C, R 2=0"99 (5)

Drying parameter

The SAS stepwise regression procedure was used to find a suitable

mathematical model for K as a function of product temperature and F P.
Since the experimental design used was for fitting second order surfaces,
the quadratic model was tried with logarithmic values of these parameters
as independent variables. On the basis of a maximum R 2 value, it was
found that the drying parameter is the exponential function of F P and
I/T,.
To find a meaningful model for K, the moisture removal process during
the cooking of meat emulsion was considered to be a rate process, and the
K w a s treated as if this was a specific reaction rate. A specific reaction rate
may be modelled employing the absolute reaction rate theory (Aiba et al.,
1973). Based on this, the following model was found appropriate:
K = 7 9 - 4 7 T ~ e x p ( - 2 - 0 7 F P - 2950"73/T,), R z = 0-85 (6)

Equilibrium moisture content

The equilibrium moisture content values were recorded for various

processing conditions and formulations. To find a suitable model, several
models were tried. Of these the following model gave the best fit. The
model is similar to that suggested by Chung & Pfost (1967).
me = - 0" 102 In (RgF P(T + 5-665) In (R H)/( - 1.132(107))), R 2 = 0"96
(7)
 Weight loss in Jrank~/~trters during thermal processing 85

Validation

The observed and predicted moisture histories for various processing

conditions and formulations are illustrated in Figs 1 to 3. There is good
agreement between these moisture histories, particularly for the longer
drying times. The R 2 values are above 0.99 in all cases. This indicates that
the simplified two-term model is suitable for the prediction of moisture
histories during the cooking of frankfurters with various formulations
and processing conditions.
The effects of various processing conditions and the compositions of
the emulsion on the moisture history and moisture loss rate are discussed
below.

Effect of processing temperature

As expected, the moisture loss rate is proportional to the air temperature.

As indicated in Fig. I, at 58 °C 13 O//oof moisture was lost in about 5 h,
whilst at 81°C the product lost the same amount in only 1 h. Thus the

EMPERATURE,°C
O

0 I 2 3 4 5
TIME,hr.
Fig. !. Comparison of the predicted and observed values of frankfurter (I.9FP)
moisture history for cooking at various temperatures and 60 ~oRH.
86 G. S. MittaL J. L. Blaisdell

°°~°eeo.Q
0
~6
n-
uJ
n-

I-
¢/)
<2)

• \
• -

' 1:6 ' ~2 '

TIME, hr.

Fig. 2. Comparison of the predicted and observed values of the moisture history of
frankfurters of various FP during cooking ;.it 69°C and 60",, RH.

moisture removal rate is about five times greater at 81 °C compared with

58°C. Two processes are acting simultaneously: (i) the overall energy
input to increase the temperature of the product, which depends on the
driving force and the time of heating, (it) vaporisation of water at the
surface of the product. At low processing temperatures relatively less
energy is available to ewiporate the water and to increase the product
temperature.

Effect of fat-protein ratio

Figure 2 shows that the rate of moisture loss~is inversely proportional to

the FP. This indicates that, to maintain the desired level of moisture in the
finished product, the additional water mixed during emulsion for-
mulation will depend on the F P of the product. The loss of moisture by
evaporation appeared to be significantly retarded by the increase in the
FP. The fat is hydrophobic and offers resistance to the diffusion of
moisture.
 Weight loss in.[ranl,furters ~h~ring thermal processing 87

o
I--
<

i,i

F.-

"'1

TIME, hr. --

Fig. 3. Comparison of the predicted and observed values of frankfurter (I.9FP)

moisture history during cooking at different RH and 69°C.

Effect of relative humidity

Figure 3 illustrates the effect of different smoke-house relative humidities,

at a process temperature of 69°C, on moisture loss. An increase in the
moisture loss rate was found with an increase in relative humidity from
41 to 60 %. Further, an increase in relative humidity to 87 % resulted in
a considerable reduction of the moisture loss rate.
In meat emulsion products protein coagulation and the associated skin
formation at the product surface apparently limit evaporation at a low
RH. However, at high RH, the rate of evaporation was sufficiently slow to
allow a balance between heat transfer and evaporating cooling to perhaps
give less shrinkage. Monagle et al. (1974) reported similar results.
The simplified two-term model, which is easy to use, can be applied to
predict the weight loss with time for different process conditions and
frankfurter formulations during cooking. This should find application in
the development of optimal cooking procedures and equipment and in
the design of realistic installations able to conserve energy.
88 G. S. Mittal, J. L. Blaisdell

REFERENCES

AOAC (1965). Official methods of analysis. Association of Official Agric.

Chemists, Washington, DC.
Agrawal, Y. C. (1976). Modelling and experimental analysis oJmoisture and heat
in emulsion products during smoke-house thermal processing. PhD
Dissertation, Ohio State University, Columbus. Ohio, USA.
Aiba, S., Humphery, A. E. & Mills, N. F. (1973). Biochemical engineering.
Academic Press, NY.
Barr, A. J., Goodnight, J. H., Sail, J. P. & Helwig, J. T. (1979). A user's guide to
SAS-79. SAS Institute, Inc., Raleigh, NC, USA.
Chen, C. S. &Johnson, W. H. (1969). Trans. of the Am. Soc. Agric. Eng., 12, 109.
Chung, D. S. & Pfost, H. B. (1967). Trans. of the Am. Soc. Agrie. Eng.. 10, 549.
Cochran, W. G. & Cox, G. M. (1957). Experimental designs. John Wiley, NY.
Igbeka, J. C., Blaisdell, J. L. & Herum, F. L. (1976). hlternational Food
Engineering Meeting Proceedings. Boston, USA.
Jason, A. C. (1965). J, Sci. Food Agric., 16, 281.
Mittal, G. S. (1979). Moisture, sodium, chloride and hydrogen ions mobility
during cooking of frankJ'urter emulsion. PhD Dissertation, Ohio State
University, Columbus, Ohio, USA.
Mittal, G. S. & Blaisdell, J. L. (1982). J. Food Processing and Preservation, 6,
Ill.
Mittal, G. S,, Blaisdell, J. L. & Herum, F. L. (1983). Meat Sci., 8. 273.
Monagle, C. W., Toledo, R. T. & Saffie, R. L. (1974). J. FoodSci., 39, 602.