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The purpose of the present study is to evaluate the potential of plasma‐treated water (PTW) as an alternative to synthetic sodium nitrite in loin ham manufacturing. Two brine solutions made of sodium nitrite were compared against PTW for curing of loin ham. In comparison to chemical brining PTW resulted in increased redness (a*‐value), while allowing to maintain low residual nitrite content and total bacterial counts. No significant differences were found in yellowness (b*‐value), lightness (L*‐value), and lipid oxidation among the treatment groups. Furthermore, the loin ham manufactured using PTW showed no genotoxicity by Ames test. Therefore, PTW could be considered as an effective and innovative substitute for synthetic nitrite in cured meat manufacturing without compromising on quality changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to evaluate immunocastration (vaccination against GnRH using Improvac® vaccine), as an alternative to surgical castration in heavy male pigs (average live weight 165 ± 10 kg), used in the production of Italian typical dry-cured ham. A total of 60 Landrace × Large White male pigs were assigned to three groups of 20 units, including one group of surgically castrated (SC), and two of immunocastrated pigs, with two (IC2) or three (IC3) vaccine treatments, respectively. The groups were compared for green ham traits, processing weight losses, chemo-physical, and sensory properties of dry-cured hams. While IC3 were not different ( P > 0.05) from SC group, IC2 hams were found to differ ( P < 0.05) both from SC and IC3 groups in ham traits, final weight losses, texture and sensory boar taint in finished hams. Therefore, vaccination with three doses could be taken into account to control boar taint in the manufacturing of typical Italian dry-cured ham. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary This study evaluates effect of tumbling time and cooking temperature on cooking rate, cooking loss (CL), colour, water activity and water-holding capacity of cooked restructured ham rolls. In experiment were investigated three tumbling times (2, 4 and 6 h) at constant temperature (+4 °C) and three cooking temperatures (76, 86 and 96 °C). It was observed that CL decreased ( P < 0.01) from 5.41% to 3.22% with tumbling time (2 h vs. 6 h) but increased ( P < 0.01) from 2.35% to 7.25% along with cooking temperature (76 °C vs. 96 °C). In contrast, pH value increased ( P < 0.01) from 6.18 to 6.24 with tumbling time (2 h vs. 6 h) but decreased ( P < 0.01) from 6.22 to 6.17 along with cooking temperature (76 °C vs. 96 °C). In addition, high temperature had higher efficiency for thermal lethality than low temperature ( F0 values were 19 and 92 min at 96 and 76 °C, respectively). Intermediate tumbling (4 h) and cooking (86 °C) could be preferential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]