HANOI UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

SCHOOL OF BIOTECHNOLOGY AND FOOD TECHNOLOGY

Department of Food technology

Experiments

Course name: Specialized projects to Food Technology

MEAT AND MEAT PROCESSING

 Practice 1 – Canned/Block Pâté Production
Flow chart:

Frozen meat Liver

Thawing Thawing

Dry onion Cleaning Cleaning

Cleaning Cutting Cutting Sub-

ingredient
Blanching Other ingredients Curing

Grinding Blending Stir-frying

Lard Slicing Filling in tray

Steaming/sterilization

Storage

Remove from tray

Packaging

Block pâté

Technological process:
Frozen meat: Class II meat (shoulder, belly) is main ingredient to produce pâté.
*Thawing meat, liver:
 Frozen meat and liver have to be thawed before production. Thawing aims to restore
the natural properties of liver and meat, and create a suitable temperature for further
process.
Thawing meat: Use air with temperature from 16-20oC, humidity from 55-60% for 6-
10 hours (for 7-10kg meat block). The thawing step ends when the center temperature of
the meat reaches ± 1oC. The meat surface should be dry, no excess water.
Thawing liver: Frozen liver is thawed in water. The ratio between water and liver is
1.5:1. Water temperature is < 15-20oC, thawing time is 40-50 minutes. At the end of the
thawing process, the center temperature reaches 5oC and the liver is slightly soft.
*Cleaning:
Objective: Remove slime, hair and blood clots on the surface of raw materials to
ensure the meat meet processing standards.
Meat is washed under clean running water, then use sharp knife to remove bruises,
hematomas, and cartilage tendons.
The liver is separated from all white veins, liver stalks and bile ducts, and stagnant
blood. Remove the dark parts or seep the yellow-green bile. The liver is then rinsed with
clean water.
Clean onions: Peel off the outer skin of onions, remove stems and roots and wash.
Eggs are cleaned and shelled before being processed.
*Cutting:
Reduce the size meat, fat, and liver to facilitate the marinating and grinding process.
The dimension of cube meat is 3 x 3 x 3 cm and liver is 3 x 3 x 1 cm
*Blanching:
Objective: change the mechanical properties to facilitate the cutting, grinding and
mincing process due to product requirements of high fineness. At the same time, the
blanching process aims to remove air in the intercellular spaces to avoid the physical
swelling when pasteurized canned meat at high temperatures.
Meat is blanched in boiling water for 10 minutes. Meat must be 50% cooked after
blanching.
*Marinating liver:
Cut liver is marinated with sugar, salt, sodium nitrite, pepper, and five spice powder.
The ratio of these components depends on the ingredient mixing formula for each batch of
product. The required time of marinating is about 1 hour at room temperature, or 24 hours
at 4oC.
 Objective: Create an unique flavor and color for the product. At the same time, the
marinating process partly involves lactic fermentation to adjust the taste and color of the
product.
* Stir-fry the liver:
Aim: reduce the fishy taste of the liver
Stir-frying the liver and oil at the same time from the moment it cools so that the liver
does not overcook and does not create a hard crust when grinding.
*Grinding:
The ingredients of meat, liver and dried onions all go through the grinding process.
Grinding creates conditions for mixing the components evenly.
Requires particle size after grinding to be f = 3-4mm.
* Blending:
Aims:
- Change the structural state of the meat, liver and other ingredients, increase the
contact area of them, the osmosis process occurs thoroughly.
- Creating a stable gel system between the material components in the pâté, making
them more evenly distributed.
After grinding the meat, liver, onions, eggs and flour are mixed in a mincing mixer or
bowl cutter.
*Filling in tray and steaming/sterilization:
After mincing, the mixture is put into an aluminum mold (1kg/mold) lined below and
around with a layer of thinly sliced fat. This help to easily take the product out and gives
the product a beautiful appearance. Then the molds are steamed. The purpose of the
steaming process is to change the physical and mechanical properties of the product,
increase sensory value and kill microorganisms while ripening the product. Perform the
steaming process in the mode: A - 60 - B
121o C
or: A - 80 - B
121o C
Products often swell after steaming due to changes in physical and chemical properties
during the steaming process. The pâté is cooled and stored for 12-24 hours to stabilize the
structure, then removed from the mold and packaged. Pate can be used immediately or
stored at 0-4oC for a shelf life of 7 days.
 Practice 2: Vietnamese sausage (Giò lụa) production
I. Flow chart

Frozen lean and fat

Thawing

Saw

Grinding

Sub-ingredients: sugar, Blending and

salt, fish sauce, STTP, emulsification
modified starch, ..

Stuffing in mold

Steaming

Cooling

Product
Flow chart of Vietnamese sausage (giò lụa) from frozen meat

Technological process explanation

1) Main ingredient:
- Frozen lean (lean shoulder, lean rump, tenderloin). Frozen meat meeting TCVN
7047:2020 are used, including ssensory, physical, chemical and microbiological criteria.
The center temperature of meat is lower than -12oC and stored in freezer room with a
temperature of -18oC – 12oC. Frozen meat is thawed with air at temperature 16-20oC,
humidity 55-60%, and thaw until the core temperature is -3 to -5oC.
- Frozen fat: use back fat, thigh fat, belly fat. Fat is taken from healthy pigs,
slaughtered to ensure hygiene, and frozen properly. The product's core reaches -12oC, ivory
white color, free of lean meat and impurities, meets sensory, physical, chemical and
microbiological criteria.
2) Other ingredients:
Flake ice is produced from drinking water, ensuring microbial, hardness, and physical and
chemical criteria.
STPP (sodium tripolyphosphate), modified starch, MSG, sugar, fish sauce, and salt must
be pure without impurities.
3) Saw/cutting: Cut meat and fat into small pieces of 5x5x5cm, convenient for grinding.
4) Grinding:
Aims: Reduce the meat dimension and facilitate fine grinding.
Use grinding machine. After grinding, meat dimension is smaller than 2mm
5) Blending and emulsification:
Aims:
- Change the structural state of the meat, lard and other ingredients, increase the contact
area of them, the osmosis process occurs thoroughly.
- Reduces the size of the meat particles to achieve a very fine texture.
First, put the lean meat, salt, phosphate and 1/3 of the ice flakes into the bowl of the bowl
cutter. Start the machine, then mix for 5 minutes. Next, add the modified starch, sugar, 2/3
of the remaining flaked ice, fish sauce and finally add the remaining spices and additives
to blend for 10 minutes.
Requirement: Operating room temperature: 10-12oC. to ensure that the emulsion mass after
mincing is about 9-10oC. Size of grain: 0.2-0.5mm.
6) Stuffing in mold: There are many methods of stuffing Vietnamese sausage:
- Use mold made of aluminum outside and propylene inside;
- Or wrap inside with banana leaves and outside with propylene.
- Stuffing with stuffing machine with propylene packaging
7) Heating (boiling/steaming):
Objective: change the physical and chemical properties of the ingredients, increase sensory
value, kill microorganisms, cook the ingredients, and fix the shape of the ingredients.
Use amount of water that can covers the sausage, put the Vietnamese sausage into the pot
and gradually raise the water temperature to 80-85oC and keep that temperature. Measure
the product's center temperature until it reaches 70oC and keep it at this temperature for 5-
10 minutes depending on the size and weight of “giò lụa”.
8) Cooling:
Aims
- Reduce the product temperature to the required temperature to facilitate the packaging
and cooling stages.
- Avoid evaporating, which causes loss of product volume.
- Avoid deformation due to shrinking cover.
- Stabilize the structure, enhance the toughness, plasticity, and elasticity of the product.
After the ingredients are cooked and fixed in shape, take the product out of the mold and
perform the cooling process to stabilize the structure and flavor. Cooling is done in rooms
0-4oC or cooled immediately at room temperature.
Maintain the product in appropriate conditions to extend the product's shelf life. Store at 0-
4oC for up to 30 days.
II. PRODUCT QUALITY ASSESSMENT
Sensory evaluation: color, state (firmness, elasticity), taste
Evaluate gel strength and firmness of sausage products using Texture Analyzer
TA.XT Plus:
Measure Compress force (Compression force to evaluate gel strength) with
SPHERRICAL Stainless probe 5mm (P/5S) - Unit of measurement (gram force) for
products such as sausages, sausages, surimi...
Spherical probes
 Fig 1: Types of spherical probes
Sample preparation:
Cut samples with a constant diameter, for example 32mm diameter, 25mm height.
Select the parameters on the TA.HD Plus structure measuring machine as below:
Setting
- Measurement type: Measurement of compression force
- Option: return to original position
- Speed before measurement: 1 mm/s
- Measurement speed: 1.1mm/s
- Speed after measurement: 10 mm/s
- Distance: 15mm
- Trigger type: Automatic 10g
- Tare type: automatic
The results of evaluating the firmness and gel strength of surimi, sausage are shown in
the following figure:
Figure 2. Curves representing the structural breaking forces (firmness) of different surimi
samples at 5oC

Figure 3. Gel strength of surimi/sausage is

(Breaking force * breaking distance) g.cm

III. QUALITATIVE AND SEMI-QUATANTITIAL SODIUM BORATE AND

BORIC ACID (BORAX) IN VIETNAMESE SAUSAGE
Principle
The food sample is acidified with hydrochloric acid, then heated in a water bath. Boric acid
(H3BO3) or sodium borate (Na2B4O7) was detected using turmeric paper. When boric acid
or sodium borate is present, turmeric paper turns from yellow to orange-red. This turmeric
paper will turn dark green in an alkaline environment and turn pink-red in an acidic
environment.
Use the borax quick test KIT (according to the instructions for use).
Conducted testing on 02 commercial Vietnamese sausage samples and 01 sample made at
the laboratory
 Practice 3- Evaluation the quality of meat and meat products

1. Determination pH of meat ingredients

1.1 Determination pH by direct measurement method (TCVN 4835: 2002)
• Principle
The pH value is determined through measuring the potential difference between a
glass electrode and a reference electrode placed in the meat sample.
• Method
Choose a representative location for the test sample to measure pH for beef, pork,
and chicken samples.
Use buffer solutions with pH = 4 and pH = 7 to calibrate the pH meter. During the
calibration process, the buffer solution must be stirred with a magnetic stirrer.
Use a sharp knife to cut or punch a hole in the sample to a size that fits the electrode
when placed.
Measure the pH using the appropriate procedure for the pH meter. Read the pH
value directly on the measuring instrument, accurate to 0.01 pH unit when reaching a
constant value.
Repeat the measurement on the same original measurement location to check for
measurement errors.
Repeat measurements at different points when it is necessary to determine pH
differences at different points of the sample.
• How to calculate results
Take the result as the arithmetic average of three measured pH values at each
measurement location. Read the average pH value at each measuring location, accurate to
0.05 pH units.
When performing measurements at many different locations of the sample, it is
necessary to map and record the measurement points along with the corresponding average
pH values measured.
1.2 Determine pH by indirect measurement method
Weigh 25 g of meat (meat product) thoroughly ground with 50 ml of distilled water
into a 250 ml glass cup, rinse with 50 ml of distilled water. Plug the pH electrode into the
above solution mixture and read the results as described above.
Record the measured pH value on the meter.
Comparison the measurement results of these 2 methods and make a preliminary
assessment of the quality of meat materials
 2. Measurement cutting force (gram) by BLADE SET WITH WARNER
BRATZLER (HDP/BSW) probes for hog dogs, sausages, salami... and raw meat
Warner-Bratzler blade
The Warner Bratzler blade set includes a reversible blade, a base and a groove. The
reversible blade can be a blade with a flat bottom edge or a blade with two cutting edges
that create an angle of 60oC with each other.
Select the parameters on the TA.HD Plus structure measuring machine as below:
Setting
- Measurement type: Measurement of compression force
- Option: return to original position
- Speed before measurement: 2 mm/s
- Measurement speed: 2 mm/s
- Speed after measurement: 10 mm/s
- Distance: 30mm
- Trigger type: Automatic
- Tare type: automatic
- Data reading speed: 200pps
Sample preparation: the sample is removed from the packaging and kept at a temperature
of 5oC
Once the impact force is achieved, the blade proceeds to cut through the sample. Maximum
force at the moment when the sample completely fills the triangular cavity of the blade and
cuts through the sample surface. After this point continue cutting throughout the entire
pattern until the blade passes through the gap in the base. The blade then returns to its
starting position. The results of cutting force assessment of hog dogs/sausages products are
shown below:

Figure 4: Warner-Bratzler blade to measure cuting force

 3. Determination the water holding capacity (WHC) of meat
• Principle
Based on the ability of meat to retain water when affected by mechanical pressure of the
water holding capacity device.
• Method
The WHC measurement method was carried out according to Grau-Hamm (1956), and
modified by Hoffman (1982).
Place a piece of meat weighing 300 ± 5 mg on dehumidified Whatman No. 1 filter paper
(7cm diameter). Measure the weight of the filter paper to the nearest 0.0001g, then place
the meat in the middle of the filter paper. Paper with meat is placed between 2 plastic sheets
and a load of 1 kg, 2.25 kg is applied to the meat for 5 minutes. When the meat is pressed,
the liquid is absorbed by the filter paper around the meat sample forming an outer ring
region (T). The meat circle (M) and the released water (T) are measured (to the nearest
mm) and the damp paper is weighed quickly after removing the compressed meat.
The area of the fluid ring is proportional to the amount of loosely water in the meat and
inversely proportional to the water-holding capacity of the meat.

Device to measure WHC

• How to calculate results

WHC is expressed as a percentage of RW = release water (Grau and Hamm, 1956)
RW = (mass of wet filter paper after pressing – mass of dry filter paper)/mass of meat
sample x 100%
WHC can also be expressed through the M/T ratio (Hofmann, Hamm, & Blüchel (1982)).
The area of flesh stains (M) and slick spots (T) were measured using three methods:
- by ruler (M/T P)
- counting mm2 on grid paper (M/T R)
- Press the piece of paper onto a thin plastic sheet, sketch the T and M areas, cut the plastic
according to the T and M areas and weigh the plastic (1mg corresponds to 7mm2 for the
plastic sheet used) (M/T A)
The water retention capacity in each case was estimated as the M/T ratio.
Meat with high WHC will correspond to a small RW and a large M/T.
4. Sensory evaluation of meat products
Evaluation method: description (profile) of product characteristics using groups of criteria
such as color, shape, structure and taste. For each product, specific characteristics are given
to match and compare with market products.
- With Vietnamese sausage products:
+ Color: the characteristic of silk rolls is light to very light pink
+ shape: smooth surface, smooth cross-section with small to large air holes
+ structure: elastic gel (brittle and elastic), flexible, to inelastic, friable, very friable
+ taste: typical delicious aroma (fragrant meat, clear smell of fish sauce, spices...), sweet
meat taste, no strange flavors
- With pate products:
+ color: from light brown to dark brown, pink red brown...
+ shape: square pate block, smooth surface
+ texture: soft, smooth, spreadable on bread, smooth cut surface
+ taste: typical delicious aroma of spices (garlic, basil, pepper...) and typical aroma of meat
and liver, typical sweetness of meat, liver...