USE OF A FIBER OPTIC PROBE TO PREDICT MEAT EMULSION BREAKDOWN

The potential use of a fiber optic probe to predict meat emulsion brea kdown was investigated. Meat emulsions were prepared with beef, pork o r turkey meat and a common source of fat (pork backfat). Cooking loss was high at the beginning of the comminution process and progressively declined as chopping continued up to a point where the emulsion broke down. Significant (P<0.05) cooking losses were observed at that point (12 min for the beef and pork emulsions and 16 min for the turkey emu lsion). The probe's ''L'' reading progressively increased during the c hopping process and started to decline just prior to the break point, providing an early warning to stop the process.