Mass transfer and microbiological profile of pork meat dehydrated in two different osmotic solutions

The effects of osmotic dehydration on mass transfer properties and microbiological profile were investigated in order to determine the usefulness of this technique as pre-treatment for further treatment of meat. Process was studied in two solutions (sugar beet molasses, and aqueous solution of sodium chloride and sucrose), at two temperatures (4 and 22°C) at atmospheric pressure. The most significant parameters of mass transfer were determined after 300 minutes of the dehydration. The water activity (aw) values of the processed meat were determined, as well as the change of the microbiological profile between the fresh and dehydrated meat. At the temperature of 22°C the sugar beet molasses proved to be most suitable as an osmotic solution, despite the greater viscosity

Aluminium and calcium ions binding to pectin in sugar beet juice: Model of electrical double layer

In sugar industry, there is a problem of the presence of undesirable macromolecules such as pectins in sugar beet juice. Separation of these compounds is done mostly by CaO. Calcium may cause undesirable process of alkalization of soil in the near environment of the sugar factory. The theoretical basis of new juice purificatin method based on the application of Al2(SO4)3, CaSO4 and their mixtures are presented. Two model solutions of pectin (0.1 % w/w) are investigated using a method of measuring zeta potential. Pure salts Al2(SO4)3 and CaSO4, showed better binding properties with the pectin than mixtures. Amount of all studied pure salts and mixtures of Al3+ and Ca2+ ions were significantly less (142 - 710 mg/gpectin) than the average amount of CaO used in classical process (about 9 g/gpectin). Mechanism of discharge of pectin macromolecules in the presence of mixtures of these ions using a model of double electric layer are suggested

Optimization of the osmotic dehydration of carrot cubes in sugar beet molasses

A Response Surface Methodology approach (RSM) was used to determine optimum conditions for the osmotic dehydration of carrot cubes in sugar beet molasses. Treatment times were set to 1, 3 and 5 h, at temperatures of 45, 55 and 65°C and molasses concentrations were 40, 60 and 80% (w/w). The used responses variables were: final dry matter content (DM), water loss (WL), solid gain (Sg), and water activity (aw). A Box and Behnken’s fractional factorial design (2 level-3 parameter) with 15 runs (1 block) was used for design of the experiment. DM, WL, Sg were significantly affected by all process variables (at 90-95% confidence level). The optimum conditions were determined by superimposing the contour plots, with the following response limiting values: DM 50-60%, WL 0.7- 0.8, Sg 0.08-0.09, and aw 0.84-0.86. The optimum conditions generated were: treatment time of 4h, temperature of 60°C, sugar concentration of 66% (w/w)