Drying Behavior of Meat Samples at Various Fiber Directions and Air Conditions

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of meat fiber directions and air conditions on moisture and temperature developments, shrinkage, and effective diffusivity constants compared to homogenous minced meat samples. The lean meat with three fiber directions and minced meat samples were dried at temperatures of 48 and 70°C and air flow rates of 0.5, 1.0, and 1.7 m/s. The minced meat samples showed 1.0 ± 0.19 to 4.4 ± 0.03°C higher temperature values and 2.3 ± 0.004 to 6.2 ± 0.003% lower moisture losses than the lean meat samples in all fiber directions. The lowest temperatures were observed in lean meat with h ₁ (normal flow, normal drying) fiber direction. The highest moisture loss and diffusion coefficient were observed in lean meat with h ₂ (parallel flow, normal drying) and v (normal flow, parallel drying) fiber directions, which also possessed the shortest drying times (10.4 and 13.4 h, respectively). The estimated diffusion coefficient values ranged between 1.11 × 10⁻⁹ and 5.54 × 10⁻⁹. The results indicated that lean and minced meat samples differed in their drying behaviors in a tray dryer under the tested conditions with >90% reproducibility (or ≤10% coefficient of variation).

Keywords:

• Diffusivity
• Drying
• Fiber direction
• Lean meat
• Minced meat
• Shrinkage

Notes

^a SEE; standard error of estimate.

^a b is the rate constant (g/g bds.min) for change in moisture content; ^b bds is bone-dry solid.

^a SEE; standard error of estimate;.

^b bds; bone-dry solid.

^a For all models R² > 0.99.

^b RMSE < 0.13.

^c RMSE < 0.15.

^d Model 1 and Model 2 were defined in Baini and Langrish^{[ 31 ]}and Akpinar.^{[ 32 ]} For model 1 RMSE < 0.014 and for model 2 RMSE <0.017.

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