FST 240
Pork Processing
Proximate Composition of Pork
Components
Moisture (%) 72.96
Ash (%) 1.10
Ether extract (%) 3.42
Protein (%) 21.52
pH 5.65
Source: Ibarra (1988)
1. Selection of animal for slaughter
i. Sex of the animal
-no difference in the meat quality of barrows and gilts
ii. Age and size
- 6-12 months; 80-110 kg for swine
iii. Meat yield
-below 50-70 kg live weight has low carcass yield and high fat trimmings
iv. Degree of fatness
-30-40% fat acceptable in terms of flavor, tenderness, juiciness and overall
acceptability
v. health
- animal must be healthy
2. Management of animals prior to slaughter
i. Fasting
- withdrawal of feed but water is given 12-24 hours to 48 hours
ii. Stress
- animal must rest before slaughter
iii. Mishandling
- animal must be handled with tlc
iv. Clean animals
- good sanitation
3. Factors affecting the quality of meat
i. Pre-slaughter treatment
- stress results to PSE: pale, soft, exudative muscle in pork and
DFD: dark, firm and dry muscle in beef
ii. Manner of handling and retailing carcasses
- after slaughter, pork carcasses are chilled for 24 hrs at 2-4oC
purpose (refrigeration):
a. keeps microbial load low or to minimum
b. allows rigor mortis to pass away
c. makes fabrication and trimming easy and produce nice cuts
d. beef carcasses are chilled up to 48 hrs of longer (3-14 days)
purpose of aging:
a. allows rigor mortis to pass
b. lower water building capacity
c. improve tenderness and develop meat aroma
Principle of Curing
“ Curing ingredients inhibit the
growth of spoilage microorganisms.
Time factor is critical.”
Recommended Pork Retail Cuts for
Different Processed Products
Retail cut Products
Boston butt (paypay) Ham, tocino, sausages
Picnic (kasim) Ham, tocino, sausages
Loin (lomo) Canadian bacon, sausages
Belly (liempo) Slab bacon
Ham (pige) Chinese style ham, quick cured
ham, tocino, sausages
Ingredients used in curing
1. Salt
• prevents growth of spoilage bacteria
• hardens muscle fibers
• draws out moisture from the meat
• adds desirable flavor and texture to the
meat
• Las Piñas salt, fine Pangasinan and other
unmineralized salt
Ingredients used in curing
2. Sugar
• adds flavor
• helps overcome saltiness
• counteracts the toughening effect of salt
• provides food for some of the lactic acid fermenting bacteria that
develops the characteristic flavor of some dried cured products
• refined sugar is most suitable
• refined sugar caramelizes at lower temperature and tends to darken the
meat upon cooking
Ingredients used in curing
3. Nitrates and Nitrites
• give typical color of cured meat
• flavor
• helps prevent the development of oxidative rancidity
• bacteriostatic properties
• forms (salitre - KNO3, salt peter - NaNO3, sodium nitrate - NaNO2,
potassium nitrate - KNO2, prague powder, regal cure mixture and
Heller’s double strength curve)
Ingredients used in curing
4. Ascorbates
• speed up curing reaction (reduce nitrite to nitric oxide and nitric oxide
reacts with myoglobin to form the cured meat color)
• must be controlled; excessive amounts of ascorbates may lead to
premature conversion of nitric oxide, which may escape into the air as
gas and thus lower the nitrite level of the brine
Ingredients used in curing
5. Phosphates
• increase the water holding capacity of the cured meat products
• decrease the shrinkage
• eg. sodium tripolyphosphate, sodium hexametaphosphate, sodium
pyrophosphate, monosodium phosphate, disodium phosphate
• should not exceed 0.5% of the finished products
• not usually soluble in most brines so it must be dissolved first
Ingredients used in curing
6. Spices
• enhance palatability
• stimulate the flow of digestive secretions
• consist of leaves, flowers, buds, fruits, seed, barks, rhizomes or other
plant parts which have been dried and are used in the entire form or after
grinding to a powder
• eg. pepper, garlic, onion, laurel leaves, oregano
Ingredients used in curing
7. Seasonings
• improve the flavor of the product
• eg. vinegar, anisado wine, MSG, soy sauce
8. Binders, Fillers, Emulsifiers
• intentional additives for economical reasons
• eg. flour, milk products, cereals
Ingredients used in curing
9. Casings
• natural: made from stomach, intestines and bladders of cattle, hogs and
sheep - should be cleaned thoroughly
• synthetic: made from cellulose or collagen and which are either edible
or inedible
10. Colorants
• natural such as paprika, annatto, carotene, saffron and turmeric
• artificial or synthetic
Processing Possibilities
