Cooking of meat and meat-based product: Coupling with the reactions governing quality

Abstract

Meat and meat-based products are almost always cooked before being eaten. The cooking process not only destroys pathogenic or spoilage microorganisms but also develops food taste, colour, flavour and texture which are specific to the cooked product. Heating and cooking produce also changes of product's nutritional properties (variation in the state and content of proteins, lipids and micronutrients). While the overall patterns of quality-related product changes during cooking are well understood, the scientific data available in literature reports remains fragmented, qualitative and sometimes contradictory. A more generic understanding of the system can only be produced by segregating out: 1) heat and mass transfer-related effects and their consequences in terms of heterogeneity of the inside-sample reaction environment, and 2) reaction-driven kinetics in relation to this in-sample local environment. This approach, if combined with mathematical modelling of each individual phenomenon and their interactions, can serve as a reliable basis for properly optimizing heating and cooking treatments. © Lavoisier - La photocopie non autorisée est un délit.