Research of Thermodynamic Parameters of Meat Products

Abstract

The indicator "water activity" is an important tool in the development of technological processes and production, as well as ensue high quality and extend shelf life of food products. All natural foods contain water in their composition, in varying amounts of their states, from this largely depends on their technological properties and shelf life. In our country, for the characteristics of the water content of a single indicator is used in food products - is "the mass fraction of moisture", or product humidity. This quantitative measure does not reflect all the complex interactions that are present in the food product and to which is water. However, there is a figure "water activity", which is the main criterion of the characteristics of the state of water in foods and is widely used around the world as to predict the technological properties of the products, and is a powerful quality control tool for the food shelf life and his. We have studied the thermodynamic water activity in smoked sausages with food ingredients during storage. As a result of studied found that long-term storage of cooked sausages water activity increased from 0.87 to 0.90, while the boiled-smoked sausages from 0.882 to 0.885. According to the results, the introduction of food ingredients possible to obtain products with a value of water activity 0.0030-0.0039 units lower compared to the control. Thus the shelf life of cooked sausages in 5 days, and boiled-smoked 7 days.