A factorial analysis of water-binding properties and firmness of heated, comminuted pork liver and pork loin products as influenced by addition of sodium chloride and pH regulators

Abstract Canned, pasteurized, comminuted pork liver and pork loin were used for a factorial study to evaluate the effects of the addition of sodium chloride (0 and 1·8%), acid and alkaline mono- and diphosphates (0 and 0·3% P 2 O 5 ), acetic acid (0 and 0·25%), sodium acetate (0 and 0·63%) and glucono-delta-lactone (0 and 0·5%) on their water-binding properties and firmness. The water-binding properties were evaluated by measuring cooking losses (for both types of product) and by moisture release by centrifugation (for the liver products only). The liver products had much better water-binding abilities and were softer than the loin products. The interaction of salt and pH regulators also differed greatly from the interaction for the comminuted loins, resulting in a barely perceptible effect of the pH regulating compounds on the water-binding abilities of the salt-containing comminuted liver. The firmness of the salt-containing liver products was greatly reduced by the addition of acidulants. The loin products were normally affected by the compounds tested, with the exception of Na 4 P 2 O 7 . The added amount of this diphosphate caused a considerable rise in the product pH, which resulted in a large reduction in cooking loss, thus leaving no possibility of an extra reduction by the combination of salt and Na 4 P 2 O 7 .