Determination of Suitable Amount of Sodium Nitrite and Sodium Ascorbate to be Applicable on the Pickle Injection Method

(Studies on the Manufacturing Process of Cooked Cured Hams by a Multiple Pickle Injector Part 3)

Abstract

This work was undertaken to determine suitable amount of NaNO₂ and sodium ascorbate (NaAs) applied to the manufacturing process of hams by a multiple pickle injector, based on the data conducted by previous study; the injection of 15% of pickle solution and 2.2% NaCl in weight ratio to fresh pork loin produced satisfactory results. 1) The amount of NaNO₂ added was significantly related to the residual amount of NO^-₂ in the cooked cured loins. In case of short curing for 1 or 2 days, 100 ppm of NaNO₂ gave a relevant amount of residual NO₂^- (less than 70 ppm)as provided by Japanese Food Hygien Law. 2) The amount of NaNO₂ added was significantly related to the color forming ratio, which rised with increasing amount of NaNO₂. 3) In the presence of fixed amount of NaNO₂(100 ppm), an addition of NaAs more than 300 ppm brought about the pronounced effects on the decrease of residual amount of NO^-₂ as well as on the increase of color forming ratio. 4) When the cooked cured loins containing NaNO₂ (100 ppm)alone were exposed under natural light for 30 minutes, their a-values in Hunter evaluation were lowered to some extent. In case of the cooked cured loins containig NaAs in addition to NaNO₂, their a-values were slightly lowered and the b-values were considerably rised with increasing amount of NaAs.