the process of dry-cured ham

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Accelerated processing of dry-cured ham. Part I. Viability of theuse of brine thawing/salting operation

Jose M. Barat a, Raul Grau a, J.B. Ibanez b, Mara J. Pagan a, Monica Flores c,Fidel Toldra c,*, Pedro Fito a

a Departamento de Tecnologa de Alimentos, Universidad Politecnica de Valencia, Camino de Vera s/n, 46022 Valencia, Spainb Departament dEnginyeria Qumica, Agraria i Tecnologia Agroalimentaria, Campus de Montilivi, 17071 Girona, Spain

c Instituto de Agroqumica y Tecnologa de Alimentos (CSIC), Apartado de Correos 73, 46100, Burjassot, Valencia, Spain

Received 24 June 2005; received in revised form 14 October 2005; accepted 14 October 2005

Abstract

In a previous study, the brine thawing/salting operation using frozen hams as raw material was proposed in order to obtain acceler-ated processing of dry-cured hams. The time needed to reach the same NaCl concentration on a dry weight basis and the same NaClconcentration in the ham liquid phase for the deeper areas at the end of the post-salting stage were determined.

The aim of this work was to study the influence of the brine thawing/salting operation on the whole dry-cured ham manufacturingprocess, using the traditional thawing and salting methods as control.

The obtained results indicate that although a strong reduction in the thawing, salting and post-salting stages is obtained by using brinethawing/salting, the time needed in the dry-curing and maturing phases increases compared to those traditionally processed, probablydue to the absence of pile salting and thus the reduction in the thickness of the ham piece as a consequence of the ham pressing. From the

composition and microbiological point of view, no significant differences were observed among the hams processed by the differenttreatments. 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Brine thawing; Vacuum impregnation; Dry-cured ham; Accelerated processing

1. Introduction

A simultaneous brine thawing/salting operation hasbeen proposed for the processing of frozen meat productswhich are salted after thawing (Barat, Grau, Montero,

Chiralt, & Fito, 2001; Ngapo, Babare, & Mawson, 1998).Frozen ham constitutes one of the products that can beprocessed through the simultaneous brine thawing/saltingoperation as recently reported (Barat, Grau, Pagan-Mor-eno, & Fito, 2005). The results from this study showed avery significant reduction of the thawing and salting timeneeded to reach a NaCl concentration, on a dry weightbasis, similar to that obtained in the traditional pile salting

method. In fact, the use of brine thawing/salting with sat-urated brine in fresh and thawed hams allowed 58% and61% time reductions, respectively, in relation to the tradi-tional process (Barat, Grau, Pagan-Moreno, et al., 2005).

A post-salting stage was also performed for thawed/

salted hams using saturated brine and compared to thosethawed traditionally in a cold chamber and pile salted(Barat, Grau, Ibanez, & Fito, 2005). The time needed toreach the same NaCl concentration in the ham liquid phasefor the deeper zones when using brine thawing/salting wasdetermined. The riskiest area was considered to be the sur-roundings of the femoral vein localised in the widest sec-tion of the ham, due to the lower NaCl concentrationreached, its higher moisture content and aw valuesobserved during the process, and the possible pathwayoffered by the femoral vein for microorganism penetration.

0309-1740/$ - see front matter 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

doi:10.1016/j.meatsci.2005.10.013

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +34 96 3900022; fax: +34 96 3636301.E-mail address: [email protected] (F. Toldra).

www.elsevier.com/locate/meatsci

Meat Science 72 (2006) 757765

MEATSCIENCE
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]


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A marked reduction in the post-salting time needed toreach similar NaCl concentrations in the liquid phase ofthe ham critical point was reduced, from 50 to 25 days,while lower weight loses at the end of the post-salting per-iod were observed when compared to the traditionally pilesalted hams. Typical weight losses up to 34% occur by the

end of the traditional process (Toldra, 2002, 2004).The aim of this work was to study the influence of thesimultaneous brine thawing/salting method on the wholedry-cured ham manufacturing process using optimized salt-ing and post-salting conditions, as compared to the tradi-tional thawing and salting methods. This comparisonincluded mass transfer, microbiological, biochemical andsensory assays.

2. Materials and methods

Sixty fresh hams with an average weight of 9.14 1.04 kg were selected in a local slaughterhouse with

pHs within the 5.76.3 range. All the hams were frozen inan industrial freezer at 40 C and stored for at least 30days at 20 C, in order to obtain a frozen raw materialwhich could resemble the product usually used commer-cially. Twelve hams were thawed in a cold chamber at3 C for 5 days, as in a typical industrial process (Banon,Cayuela, Granados, & Garrido, 1999), and pile salted for9 days (TPS). The remaining 48 hams were divided intotwo groups of 24 hams. Both groups were brine thawed/salted in saturated brine, one of them at atmospheric pres-sure (BTS) for 5 days (Barat, Grau, Pagan-Moreno, et al.,2005) and the other group for a total of 3 days, applying a

vacuum pulse when the hams were thawed (2.3 days)(Barat, Grau, Pagan-Moreno, et al., 2005) (BTS-TP). Thevacuum pulse submitted the system (the hams immersedin the saturated brine) to vacuum for 3 h, restoring theatmospheric pressure after that time, and thus promotingthe action of the hydrodynamic mechanism (Fito et al.,2001). All the salting experiments were carried out at 3 C.

At the end of each of the salting periods all hams wereweighed and placed in a chamber with controlled tempera-ture and relative humidity. The post-salting stage was car-ried out for 50 days for the thawed pile-salted (TPS) hams(3 C and 90% air relative humidity). Twelve of the brine/thawed salted hams with and without vacuum pulse, BTS-TP50 and BTS50, respectively, were stored for 40 days at3 C and 90% air relative humidity, and the last 10 days

at 7 C and 85% air relative humidity. The remainingbrine/thawed salted hams were post-salted for 25 days(BTS-TP25 and BTS25) (20 days at 3 C and 90% air rela-tive humidity, and the last 5 days at 7 C and 85% air rel-ative humidity), which was determined to be the minimumtime needed for the post-salting stage (Barat, Grau, Ibanez,

et al., 2005).At the end of the post-salting stage, the hams were takento the last processing stage (dry-ripening). During this per-iod, the initial combination of temperature and air relativehumidity was 13 C and 77%, respectively (until hamsreached a total weight loss, related to the initial frozenweight, equal to the 24%), and then at 22 C and 73%.The process stopped when 34% total weight loss wasreached.

The processing conditions are summarised in Table 1.

2.1. Sampling

In all the experiments, three hams were analyzed at theend of the salting, post-salting and dry-maturation stagesfor microbial and compositional analysis.

The changes in weight throughout the whole processwere determined on the six hams which were processed toobtain the dry-cured ham. NaCl and moisture analyseswere carried out on each ham using four samples; threeof them were obtained from the widest section of theham (A, B and C points in Fig. 1) and the fourth fromthe whole homogenized ham muscle (R) (without the rind,fat layer). Each sample was thoroughly homogenizedbefore determining the moisture and sodium chloride con-

tent. Additionally, the water activity of each sample wasdetermined.

The microbial analysis was accomplished on three sam-ples taken from each ham; from the ham surface (musclesSemimembranosus and Quadriceps femoris) named sur-face, from the zone near to the femoral vein (intersectionof the muscles Biceps femoris, Semitendinosus and Semi-membranosus) named as vein and one from near the sub-cutaneous fat (muscle Biceps femoris) named as depth.

2.2. Analytical determinations

Sodium chloride was determined after sample homogeni-zation in a known amount of distilled water at 9000 rpm inan ultraturrax T25 for 5 min and centrifuged to remove any

Table 1Summary of the processing conditions employed in the experiments

Treatmentcode

Number ofsamples

Thawing (days) Salting (days) Post-salting (days) Ripeningconditions

T= 3 C 90% RH T= 3 C T= 3 C 90% RH T= 7 C 83% RH Total days

TPS 12 5 9 (90% RH) 40 10 50 1st period 13 C, 77% RHBTS25 12 0 5 (brine) 20 5 25 2nd period 22 C, 73% RHBTS50 12 0 5 (brine) 40 10 50BTS-TP25 12 0 3 (brine-vacuum) 20 5 25

BTS-TP50 12 0 3 (brine-vacuum) 40 10 50

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fine debris present in the sample. Afterwards, the solutionwas filtered and a sample of exactly 500 ll was taken and

titrated in a Chloride Analyzer equipment (CIBA CorningMod. 926) (Guamis et al., 1997). Moisture content wasdetermined by oven drying to constant weight at 100 C(ISO R-1442). The water activity of each sample was deter-mined using an Aqualab dew point hygrometer (DecagonDevices Inc., Washington, USA).

2.3. Microbiological analysis

The microbial counts were determined using the pourplate, the surface plate or the most probable number(MPN) method. The following counts were made on all

samples:

Aerobic counts. Plate count agar (Merck). Duplicatepour plates were prepared per dilution and incubatedat 30 C for 72 h.

Sulphite-reducing clostridia. The 5-tube MPN methodusing SPS agar (Merck) was employed. The tubes wereincubated at 46 C for 48 h under anaerobic conditions.Black colonies were considered sulphite-reducingclostridia.

Clostridium perfringens. The 5-tube MPN method usingTSN agar (Merck) was employed. The tubes were incu-bated at 46 C for 48 h under anaerobic conditions.Black colonies were considered to be C. perfringens.

Staphylococcus aureus. A direct search for S. aureus wasmade by streaking 0.1 ml of the appropriate dilutionsonto BairdParker agar (Merck) Incubation lasted 48 hat 37 C. Black colonies were considered to be staphylo-cocci and were transferred to brain heart infusion broth(Difco), nutrient agar (Difco) slants, and DNAse agar(Difco) plates. The broth was used to test for coagulase,the slants for catalase and the plates for thermonuclease.The direct tube method using coagulase rabbit plasma(Difco) was used to determine coagulase activity. Isolateswhich were catalase, DNAse and coagulase positive

within 418 h were considered to be S. aureus.

Coliforms. The 5-tube MPN method using brilliantgreen bile 2% (Merck) with fermentation tubes was usedto estimate coliforms densities. Tubes showing gaswithin 48 h were considered positive.

Salmonella. A 25 g sample was pre-enriched in 225 mlpeptone water for 24 h at 37 C, and 10 ml were trans-

ferred to 90 ml of Selenito broth (Merck), which wasincubated at 43 C for 24 h. A loopful of enrichmentbroth was streaked onto plates of bismuth sulphite agar(Merck). After incubation for 24 h, Salmonella suspi-cious colonies were transferred to triple sugar iron agar(Merck) slants and confirmed by means of the conven-tional test in Bergeys Manual.

2.4. Statistics

ANOVA treatment of data was performed using theStatgraphics Plus version 5.1 (Manugistics Inc., Rock-

ville, MD, USA).

3. Results and discussion

3.1. Thawing and salting stage

In a previous study, the NaCl concentration to bereached at the end of the salting process, was 0.069 (w/w)on a dry basis (d.b.) (Barat, Grau, Pagan-Moreno, et al.,2005). The obtained NaCl concentrations in this work were0.063 0.006 (w/w), 0.086 0.008 (w/w) and0.066 0.0052 (w/w) for the thawed and salted hams with

the traditional method (TPS), and the thawed and saltedhams in saturated brine with (BTS-TP) and without(BTS) a vacuum pulse, respectively. The statistical analysisof the data revealed the absence of significant differences inthe NaCl concentration, on a dry weight basis, at the endof the salting process.

The changes in weight at the end of the thawing andsalting process were 0.082 0.009 (w/w), 0.010 0.001(w/w) and 0.001 0.002 (w/w) for TPS, BTS-TP andBTS, respectively. As in the previous study (Barat, Grau,Pagan-Moreno, et al., 2005), a marked influence of the spe-cific processing conditions on the ham weight changes wasobserved.

3.2. Changes in hams weight through the whole process

Total weight changes throughout the whole process areshown in Fig. 2 for all the treatments. Differences in weightloss during the salting period were remarkable. The thawedand salted hams using saturated brine (BTS) had a higherweight loss during the post-salting stage compared withthe traditionally treated hams (TPS), probably due to lowersurface dehydration in the salting step. Nevertheless, thetotal ham weight loss, as referred to the initial frozenham weight, was higher for the thawed and salted hams

by the traditional method (TPS), except for the BTS-

Fig. 1. Samples analyzed from the widest ham section.

J.M. Barat et al. / Meat Science 72 (2006) 757765 759


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TP(25) which reached the same weight loss as the TPShams after 34 days of processing and behaved simulta-neously to the TPS hams during the following stages. Thisbehaviour implied that the brine thawed and salted hams,with the exception of the BTS-TP(25) batch, reached thesame total weight reduction of 34%, which marked theend of processing, although in a longer time.

The ham weight at the end of each stage and the totalprocess for a final 34% weight loss are shown in Table 2.

A possible explanation for the differences in the totalprocessing time needed to reach the 34% total weight lossare the differences in the ham section (Fig. 3) as a conse-quence of ham pressing during the pile salting stage. A pic-

ture of two ham sections, clearly different, can be observed

in Fig. 3. Fig. 3(a) corresponds to a dry-cured ham whichwas brine thawed and salted. It can be seen to be a moreirregular section, which resembles the original fresh ham.Fig. 3(b) is a dry-cured ham which was pile salted. It canbe seen as a pressed section, and as a consequence, has adecreased maximum thickness compared with the brinethawed and salted ham. A possible way of reducing the dif-ferences observed due to the thawing and salting processwould be either in pressing the ham during the brine saltingor pressing it for one or two days after the brine salting per-iod. The decrease would increase the drying rate and sodecrease the total processing time. On the other hand, someproducers could be interested in producing a dry-cured ham

with a section similar to that observed in Fig. 3(a).

-0.45

-0.4

-0.35

-0.3-0.25

-0.2

-0.15

-0.1

-0.05

0

0 25 50 75 100 1 25 1 50 1 75 2 00 2 25 2 50 2 75 3 00

t (days)

M t

TPS

Reference value

thawed

Salting

Post-salting

Dry-maduration

-0.45

-0.4

-0.35

-0.3

-0.25-0.2

-0.15

-0.1

-0.05

0

0.05

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0 25 50 75 100 125 150 175 200 225 250 275 300

t (days)

M t

BTS-TP (25) BTS-TP (50)

Reference value

Salting Post-salting

Dry-maduration

-0.4

-0.35

-0.3

-0.25

-0.2

-0.15

-0.1

-0.05

0

0.05

0.1

0 25 50 75 100 125 150 175 200 225 250 275 300

t (days)

M t

BTS (25) BTS (50)

Reference value

Salting

Post-salting

Dry-maduration

a

b

c

Fig. 2. Total weight changes throughout the processing stages for the salted hams following the traditional method (TPS) (a), for the brine thawed/saltedhams applying or not a vacuum pulse with 25 and 50 days of post-salting (BTS-TP(25), BTS-TP(50) (b) and BTS (25), BTS (50) (c), respectively).



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3.3. Values of the NaCl concentration, moisture and water

activity of the A, B and C points at the end of the salting,post-salting and ripening

The zNaCl, xw and aw values for the A, B and C points(Fig. 1) of the hams widest section at the end of the salting,post-salting and dry-ripening are shown in Figs. 46. ThezNaCl at the end of the dry-ripening period was the sameat all points, which indicates that from the NaCl transferpoint of view, equilibrium can be considered to beachieved. On the other hand, the differences in aw valuesinside the ham should have to be considered as the driving

force for water transport (Marinos-Kouris & Maroulis,

1995). The aw values at the A, B and C points at the endof the dry-ripening period, indicate that the hams werenot in equilibrium, with the minimum aw values point A(close to the surface), as a consequence of the low relativehumidity of the air in the drying chambers at the end ofprocessing. Another marked aspect is that the BTS hamshad a lower zNaCl value at A point at the end of the saltingperiod than the other hams and a lower moisture gradientinside the ham at the end of the ripening stage. It was con-firmed that the desired zNaCl value at point B (>0.02),determined with fresh hams (Barat, Grau, Ibanez, et al.,

Table 2Ham weight changes at the end of each stage and the total processing time needed to reach a final weight decrease of 34%

Treatment code End of thawing End of salting End of post-Salting Dry-ripening untilM

0t % 34%

Total time

DM0t s.d. DM0t s.d. t (d) DM

0t s.d. t (d) DM

0t s.d. t (d) t (d)

TPS 0.019 0.009a 0.086 0.020a 9 0.164 0.034a 50 0.3390 0.042a 165 229

BTS (25) 0 0.033 0.006

b

5

0.041 0.010

b

25

0.3311 0.008

a

258 288BTS (50) 0 0.021 0.006b 5 0.069 0.007b 50 0.3199 0.039a 242 297BTS-TP (25) 0 0.031 0.010b 3 0.054 0.021b 25 0.3424 0.043a 188 216BTS-TP (50) 0 0.031 0.006b 3 0.073 0.011b 50 0.3330 0.029a 232 285

Means in a column with different letters are significantly different. P< 0.05.

Fig. 3. Cross-section of two dry-cured hams; brine thawed and salted (a) and pile salted (b).

0

0.02

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0 100 200 300

0.860.88

0.90.920.940.960.98

11.02

0 100 200 300

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0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0 100 200 30

t (days)

0

A B C

zNaCl

aw xW

TPS

Fig. 4. Values of the NaCl concentration in the ham liquid phase (zNaCl), moisture (xw) and water activity (aw) of the A, B and C points at the end of the

salting, post-salting and ripening periods, respectively, for the salted hams with the traditional method (TPS).



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0

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0.04

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0 100 200 300

0.880.9

0.920.940.960.98

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t (days)

t (days)

A B C

zNaCl

aw xW

BTS-TP (25)

00.02

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0 100 200 300

0.880.9

0.920.940.960.98

11.02

0 100 200 3000.30.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0 100 200 300

A B C

BTS-TP (50)

zNaCl

aw xW

Fig. 5. Values of the NaCl concentration in the ham liquid phase (zNaCl), moisture (xw) and water activity (aw) of the A, B and C points at the end of thesalting, post-salting and ripening periods, respectively, for the brine thawed/salted hams applying a vacuum pulse with 25 and 50 days of post-salting(BTS-TP(25) and BTS-TP(50)).

0

0.02

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0 100 200 3000.880.9

0.920.940.960.98

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A B C

zNaCl

aw xW

t (days)

BTS (25)

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0 100 200 300

0.880.9

0.920.940.960.98

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0 100 200 300

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0 100 200 300

A B C

zNaCl aw xW

t (days)

BTS (50)

Fig. 6. Values of the NaCl concentration in the ham liquid phase (zNaCl), moisture (xw) and water activity (aw) of the A, B and C points at the end of thesalting, post-salting and ripening periods, respectively, for the brine thawed/salted hams at atmospheric pressure with 25 and 50 days of post-salting

(BTS(25) and BTS(50)).



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2005), was reached for BTS and BTS-TP hams 25 dayspost-salting, indicating that the post-salting stage couldbe reduced from 50 to 25 days using the brine thawing/salt-ing process.

3.4. Microbiological analysis

The microbiological analysis were done on the tradition-ally processed hams (50 days of post-salting), and thosebrine thawed salted (BTS and BTS-TP) for the optimizedpost-salting time (25 days).

The evolution of aerobic bacteria during the whole pro-cess for each salting method is shown in Fig. 7. At the endof the salting period, the number of these microorganismswas similar in all the hams and in each analysed part of theham. During the post-salting period the number of thesemicroorganisms increased in each part, being more markedin the surface of the ham, as was previously observed byHuerta, Hernandez, Guamis, and Hernandez (1988).

The decrease in salt concentration at the surface of thehams (Figs. 46) was advantageous for the growth of thesemicroorganisms as they are difficult to grow at salt concen-trations around 6%. Something similar happened in theinner parts of the hams since the level of salt that can affectthe growth of these bacteria was not reached.

All of these factors and the increase of temperature bythe end of this stage explain the rapid development of thesemicroorganisms during the post-salting period. This devel-opment was higher in hams with a longer post-salting per-iod (TPS).

In previous studies (Kemp, Langlois, & Jonson, 1982;

Kemp, Abidoye, Langlois, Franklin, & Fox, 1980, 1978)it was shown that during the initial stages of processing,a decrease in Gram negative aerobic bacteria was seencaused by the progressive dehydration and increase insodium chloride concentration. On the other hand, Gram

positive coccus, lactic acid bacteria, yeasts and moulds,sometimes increase because they are tolerant of salt. Thiscan explain the increase in aerobic microorganisms duringthe post-salting period. At the end of the process, the levelof these microorganisms was within the rate 105107 cfu/g,being lower than at the end of the post-salting period, and

was similar in all the hams, irrespective of the saltingmethod and the post-salting duration.The evolution of coliforms in the hams is shown in

Fig. 8. The hams salted with solid salt, after the saltingstage, had lower number of coliforms than the hams saltedby immersion in brine and the highest number of thesemicroorganisms was found in the hams salted by immer-sion in brine with a vacuum pulse. At post-salting, thehams salted with solid salt, had the higher number of col-iforms. These hams had a longer post-salting period andhad lower salt concentrations. In the hams salted by brineand with a vacuum pulse, coliforms decreased during thepost-salting period. In the brine salted hams without vac-

uum pulse the coliform population on the surface increasedand decreased in the other two studied zones.

The initial salting could cause cellular damages, andhave negative effects on the posterior growth of the micro-organisms, resulting in longer lag phases or lower growthrates (Lechovich, 1987). At the end of the process, thenumber of coliforms was similar in all the hams.

The results obtained from the Salmonella analyses dur-ing the whole process are shown in Table 3. As can beobserved, these bacteria were found in all the samples, thisdemonstrates that the conditions of the post-salting periodare adequate to inhibit the growth of these bacteria. Salmo-

nella can tolerate salt concentrations near to 6% (Gonzalez-Hevia, Gutierrez, & Mendoza, 1996). In Fig. 3 it isobserved, that except on the surface at the end of salting,the salt concentration needed to inhibit the growth of Sal-monella, was not reached at any time during the post-salt-

0

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5

6

7

8

9

10

BTS BTS-TP TPS BTS(25

days)

BTS-TP

(25

days)

TPS (50

days)

BTS (25

days)

BTP-TP

(25

days)

TPS (50

days)

logcfu/g

SURFACE VEIN DEPTH

End of salting

Post-salting End of process

Fig. 7. Evolution of aerobic microorganisms during the whole process of elaboration for each treatment of salting, different post-salting periods and at

different zones of the hams.



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ing period. This fact, in addition to the higher water con-tent of the ham, favoured the presence of these bacteria.At the end of the process, the conditions in the hams didnot support the growth of Salmonella, since these bacteriawere not found in the last samples.

S. aureus, sulphite-reducing clostridia and C. perfringenswere not found in any of the samples.

4. Conclusions

The results in this work confirm the substantial reduc-tion in the thawing, salting and post-salting time needed(up to 25 days) to process Spanish cured hams using frozenhams and brine thawing/salting compared with the tradi-tional method.

The use of brine thawing/salting implied a lower totalweight loss in the salting step when compared with the tra-

ditional process. Although these differences were reduced

during the post-salting stage, the total time needed to reachthe weight loss which defined the end of the process washigher for most of the hams than when using the tradi-tional method. This was probably due to the absence ofpressing during the salting, which implied that the pilesalted hams had a flatter section than those brine salted.This could be avoided by pressing the hams during thebrine salting process or immediately after it.

The microbiological analysis showed a similar trend forall treatments, with an increase in the counts from the salt-ing to the post-salting period, and a clear decrease at theend of the whole process as a consequence of the largedecrease in the water activity of the hams.

Acknowledgements

Grant PTR1995-0403-OP02 from MCyT is fullyacknowledged. This work carried out under Unidad Asoci-ada framework between IIAD (UPV) and IATA (CSIC).

References

Banon, S., Cayuela, J. M., Granados, M. V., & Garrido, M. D. (1999).

Pre-cure freezing affects proteolysis in dry-cured hams. Meat Science,51, 1116.

Barat, J. M., Grau, R., Ibanez, J. B., & Fito, P. (2005). Post-salting studiesin spanish cured ham manufacturing time reduction by using brinethawingsalting. Meat Science, 69, 201208.

Barat, J. M., Grau, R., Montero, A., Chiralt, A., & Fito, P. (2001). Saltingtime reduction of Spanish jams by brine salting. In P. Fito, A. Chirlat,J. M. Barat, W. E. L. Spiess, & D. Behsnilian (Eds.), Osmoticdehydration and vacuum impregnation. Applications in food industries

(pp. 155169). Lancaster: Technomic Pub. Co. Inc.Barat, J. M., Grau, R., Pagan-Moreno, M. J., & Fito, P. (2005).

Simultaneous brine thawing-salting operation during spanish curedham manufacturing. Meat Science, 66, 603608.

Fito, P., Chiralt, A., Barat, J. M., Andres, A., Gonzalez-Martnez, C.,Escriche, I., & Camacho, M. M. (2001). Use of vacuum impregnation

in food salting process. Journal of Food Engineering, 49, 141151.

Table 3Presence/absence (+/) ofSalmonella in hams during the whole process ofelaboration for each treatment of salting, different post-salting periods anddifferent zones of the hams

Surface Vein Depth

End of salting stage

TPS 5 Days + + +BTS-TP 3 Days + +BTS 9 Days + + +

End of post-salting stage

BTS 25 Days + +

BTS-TP 25 Days + + +TPS 50 Days + +

End of the process

BTS 25 Days BTS-TP 25 Days TPS 50 Days

0

0,5

1

1,5

2

2,5

3

3,5

4

BTS BTS-TP TPS BTS (25

days)

BTS-TP

(25

days)

TPS (50

days)

BTS (25

days)

BTS-TP

(25

days)

TPS (50

days)

log

MPN/g

SURFACE VEIN DEPTH

End of salting

Postsalting End of process

Fig. 8. Evolution of coliforms during the whole process of elaboration for each treatment of salting, different post-salting periods and different zones ofthe hams.



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the process of dry-cured ham

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