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Title: MEAT PARTICLE REDUCTION SYSTEMS FOR LOW-FAT, NONBREADED PORK NUGGETS

Author
item Berry, Bradford
item KOTULA KATHRYN L - UNIVERSITY OF DELAWARE

Submitted to: Food Preservation 2000 Conference Proceedings
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/14/1994
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: The U.S. Department of Agriculture has mandated that foods purchased by USDA for programs such as The National School Lunch Program must undergo fat reduction. Simply removing fat from meat products often results in reductions in eating quality, especially tenderness. The objective of this study was to evaluate various systems for reducing meat particle size as to their influence on properties of low-fat, nonbreaded pork nuggets--a finger food that is appealing to school-age children. The low-fat (10 percent) pork nuggets were compared to a breaded high-fat (20 percent) beef nugget used in school feeding programs. Systems designed to create only minimal reduction in meat particle size produced nuggets with higher cooking yields and juiciness scores. However, a school-age children's panel did not like the tenderness of these nuggets. Even nuggets made with 1/4-inch size meat pieces did not gain the acceptability and "softness" found by the children's panel for breaded, high-fat beef nuggets. Results from the children's panel suggest that contrary to some popular articles, children do not want a "meat-like" texture in finger foods like nuggets. In developing lower fat meat products, processors should consider the use of ingredients (gums, starches) that will result in a soft texture.

Technical Abstract: The objective of this study was to determine the effect of meat particle reduction systems on various properties of cooked, low-fat, nonbreaded pork nuggets. Five nugget products were processed and included variations in meat particle size (marinated intact muscle; macerated, flaked or ground pork), fat content (10, 20 percent) and use of functional and textured soy protein concentrate. Reducing the particle size of meat during processing resulted in a higher frequency of smaller size chewed pieces, less force required during chewing, and lower Instron straight edge shear and compression values. Nuggets manufactured from flaked pork (1.90 cm diameter) with textured soy protein concentrate were either similar to or more tender (sensory and instrumental measures) than nuggets processed from ground (1.27 cm diameter) pork. Cooking yields were highest for intact muscle nuggets and lowest for 20 percent fat nuggets made from 1.27 cm ground pork. These results suggest that in order to achieve textural properties of 20 percent fat pork nuggets, substantial reductions in meat particle size may be necessary when producing 10 percent fat pork nuggets.