Texture Testing for the Meat Sector
- Tenderness
- Toughness
- Springiness
- Firmness
These are all terms that are used to describe the quality of meat, but how does this translate into analytical information that food technologists and quality personnel can use to critically assess these attributes and evaluate the quality of meat?
Meat is a particularly sensitive sector when it comes to consumer acceptance. Whereas other foods compete for consumer preference by, for example, innovating new products and flavors, meat is often graded just by its texture, a factor linked to its perceived quality.
It is the primary consideration made by a consumer is assessing meat and meat products. If the texture is too tough or too tender, or its texture has changed, perceptions of the product are affected.
Texture Measurement Solution
Texture measurement provides the solution by putting values to traditionally subjective characteristics of foods.
Using mechanical means, through the use of an FTC texture analyser and appropriate fixture, it is possible to imitate the actions undertaken by a person when consuming the product. Texture measurement can assess a variety of meat products including;
- Tough meat products, such as steaks and whole fish
- Soft protein-based gels, such as surimi
- Pastes, such as meat slurries, stocks and potted meats
- Meat particulate products, such as ground beef and minced meat
The most common methods employed are;
- Warner Bratzler tests using a single blade to shear through the meat product obtaining the peak force
- Kramer Shear test methods, which compresses and shears samples, such as meat particulate products
- Volodkevich tests, which measures the forces involved in cutting a meat sample with a pair of blunt wedges imitating biting meat
- puncture and penetration tests, where forces to attain deformation are calculated as a representation of muscle binding or sample hardness indicative of sample toughness.
Applications for the Meat sector
Finding the right test
A number of texture test techniques exist for measuring meat and meat product texture. The best advice is to keep texture testing practical and real, by using the techniques that best replicate handling by the consumer e.g. stretching, breaking, bending, cutting and squashing the product.
- Back Extrusion
- Bulk Analysis
- Multiple Point Analysis
- Penetration
- Shearing
- Compression
- Tension
Back Extrusion
Used for softer foods such as pastes and liquids, which can be tested in their own packaging.
Viscous liquids and semi-solid liquids are displaced in a controlled manner in order to assess characteristics such as flow, thinning and thickening, consistency, viscosity, adhesiveness and spreadability.
Application examples include;
- Yield and spreading properties of meat paste
- Flow characteristics on spreading and pumping of meat slurries
- Structure recovery after pumping
Bulk Analysis
Where measurement of one sample is either not practical or would not adequately represent how the consumer handles the product, it is possible to assess the sample in bulk form.
The Kramer Shear Cell faithfully reproduces the actions of consumption by shearing, compressing and extruding the sample, measuring them together and providing increased reproducibility in a highly variable product.
Products such as minced meats and ground beef are consumed and handled in bulk form, therefore they are ideally measured in the same way to help quantify the toughest components and indicate bulk firmness.
Application examples include;
- Assess gristle content in ground beef
- Toughness testing of minced meat before and after cooking
Multiple Point Analysis
Used to test multiple points on one sample where texture and form may vary considerably from one area to the next to measure properties such as firmness, toughness and maturity.
Application examples include;
- Use cross-section of burgers to measure firmness
Penetration
Small cylinders, balls, needles and cones are used to penetrate into a samples surface imitating biting in the mouth.
Application examples include;
- Elasticity of processed meats
- Measure gel firmness, for example surimi, meat and fish jellies
- Muscle firmness comparison between wild and farmed salmon
Shearing
Cross-sections of samples can be evaluated by slicing through them with blades and wires imitating the actions applied by the front incisor teeth. Attributes assessed include bite strength, cook quality, tenderness and toughness.
Depending on the blade geometry, many actions are performed on the sample, including shearing, tearing and compression. Product texture variations are measured by slicing through the whole sample.
This is commonly used to measure firmness and toughness of muscles and fibres using the Warner Bratzler method to assess meat quality.
Application examples include;
- Compare hardness to bite of hotdog varieties
- Toughness and hardness to bite of chicken fillets
- Compare burger tenderness from different suppliers
Compression
Squashing solid and self-supporting samples enables a number of textural properties to be evaluated, including hardness, stickiness, springiness and fracturability.
It is recommended to use a compression probe with a greater surface area than that of the sample being tested.
Application examples include;
- Hardness to touch of salami
- Muscle firmness of whole fish
- Measure physical consistency of sausage for slicing performance
Tension
Samples are stretched until they break at their weakest point to measure characteristics such as break resistance and elasticity.
In meat products, tensile forces helps to evaluate the strength and elasticity of fibers and muscles.
Application examples include;
- Break strength of liver sausage to identify failure point
