The study on the influence of the electrohydraulic effect on the diffusion coefficient and the penetration depth of salt into muscle tissues during salting

Abstract

Currently, promising methods for intensifying the salting technology of raw meat are those based on pulsed energy effects, accompanied by a variety of physical and chemical effects. One of these methods is a discharge-pulse technology, developed by the scientists of the department of meat and canning technologies of the North Caucasus Federal University. When a short high voltage electrical pulse forms in the brine-meat system, high pressure forms in the working tank, the increase in pressure is accompanied by a set of physical and chemical phenomena, such as ultrasound and electromagnetic radiation, ultraviolet glow, cavitation, etc. Taken together, all these phenomena have a beneficial impact on both the brine and the meat itself, accelerating the process of salting. In the present study, we tried using the method of determining the diffusion coefficient of salt in beef muscle tissues empirically by creating a concentration difference in two communicating chambers, the liquids in which are separated by the studied raw material of a given thickness. The main goal of the work was to evaluate the effectiveness of the discharge-pulse technology of salting meat raw materials by determining the NaCl diffusion coefficient and the penetration depth of salt into meat samples. The experimental results showed that with the discharge-pulse treatment of meat, the penetration rate of salt into muscle tissue increases and is proportional to the number of pulses transmitted to the system. The diffusion coefficient in test samples was higher that in the control meat samples at each time period. Based on the obtained results, we came to the conclusion that the discharge- pulse meat treatment contributes to the intensification of diffusion osmotic processes in the wet salting technology