USE OF MAGNETIC-RESONANCE-IMAGING TO STUDY THE BINDING OF MANGANESE IONS IN BRINE-CURED PORK

Saturation recovery Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) has been used to study the dependence of the water proton NMR longitudinal relaxation r ate (T-1(-1)) on Mn2+ concentration in pork which had been cured with 53, 102 and 193 mg g(-1) NaCl solutions. Those data are discussed in t he context of meat swelling, determined independently by gravimetric w ater uptake. The utility of manganese ions as a paramagnetic tracer to probe the ability of brined pork to bind Mn2+ ions was further demons trated in a two-dimensional inter-diffusion experiment which visualize d perfusion of a given manganese ion concentration through a cylindric al sample of 102 mg g(-1) NaCl cured pork.