With the goal of developing a jerky meat product that takes advantage of the characteristics of emu neck meat, we designed a production process and tested a composition ratio for a pickle solution. Relative to meat weight, the pickle solution contained water at 40%, salt at 2.5%, coarsely ground black pepper at 1.0%, garlic powder at 2.0%, ginger powder at 0.1%, trehalose at 3.0%, a color-developing agent at 0.3%, sodium ascorbate at 0.2%, and trisodium phosphate at 0.3%. After boiling for 1 min, the mixture was left to cool before being used. Following pickling in this solution for 2 days, emu neck meat was ground and mixed in a food processor for 1 min. The obtained ground meat was then shaped into a 5.0mm-thick patty. Subsequently, this patty was subjected to preliminary drying (55℃, 120 min), main drying (60℃, 60 min), preliminary smoking (60℃, 60 min), and finally main smoking (67℃, 60 min) to produce a jerky meat product. The emu neck jerky meat produced in this process had significantly subdued animal odor, exhibited excellent physical properties and coloration, and satisfied the standards of Japanese food hygiene legislation. From a physicochemical perspective, the emu jerky meat produced in the present study contained more protein, less fat, fewer calories, and more iron than commercially available products, reflecting the characteristics of emu neck meat. Compared to commercially available products, our emu jerky meat exhibited better physical properties, had improved coloration and sensory aesthetics, and contained less salt. These attributes demonstrate that we successfully developed a health-oriented emu jerky meat product with excellent texture, color, taste, and flavor.
