Thesis (M.Sc.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Veterinary Medicine - Department of Food Hygiene and Control

Egyptian luncheon sausage is one of the most meat product consumed by Egyptian populations, and is basically produced from beef. Paddle mixer was the main machinery used for production of such type of sausage. For effective production of meat emulsion, the mixer needs a long time (hours) to produce a single batch. Recently, the massive production of emulsion type products in Egypt forced the meat processors to update the machinery used. Emulsion breakdown can be very costly especially in high volume processing lines, therefore understanding the relationship between meat batter stability and processing equipment will enable the processor to select the best equipment available on the market to produce high quality products. Therefore, the main objective of the current study was to compare the physicochemical and sensory characteristics as well as emulsion stability and microstructure of beef and chicken meat batters. Sensory evaluation showed significant differences in luncheon color, tenderness and juiciness while flavor and taste scores revealed non- significant differences among different machines. Higher tenderness, juiciness, color, overall acceptability were observed in emulsion produced by bowel cutter. Shear force was significantly higher in emulsion produced by bowel cutter. Total fluid release and fat release were higher in emulsion produced by bowel cutter than those produced with paddle mixer. Significantly higher total soluble, myofibrillar proteins were recorded in emulsion produced by bowel cutter. Light microscopy for protein matrix structure and fat distribution within the mixer sausages had a coarse protein matrix structure, large fat droplets and some large pieces of intact muscle, while emulsion produced by bowel cutter had uniformly small fat droplets evenly distributed in a protein matrix with some visible muscle fragments. Scanning and transmission electron microscopy revealed that that in emulsion produced with paddle mixer, most of fat globules were large in size surrounded by an weak interfacial protein film where unstable, partially uncoated fat was present

Issued also as CD