Evaluation of the effects of sea tangle water extract and various packaging methods on the product quality of pre- and post-rigor cured pork loin during storage

Objective: This experiment evaluated the physicochemical properties of low-salt cured pork after adding hot-water-extracted sea tangle (HWEST; 5%, 10%) to pre-rigor loin and packaging with vacuum packaging (VAC) or modified atmosphere packaging (MAP; 70% CO₂, 20% N₂) over an 8-wk storage period at 10℃. Methods: Pre-rigor cured loin (<1 h post-slaughter) treated with 0.8% salt and 5%/10% HWEST was prepared and compared to post-rigor cured loin with a salt level of 1.5%. The pH, color values, Warner-Bratzler shear value (kgf), lipid oxidation (thiobarbituric acid reactive substances), volatile basic nitrogen, cooking and purge loss (CL, PL %), expressible moisture (EM, %), and microbial counts of the cooked loin were measured. Results: MAP of cured pork loin yielded a lower PL value than VAC. In addition, lactic acid bacteria did not grow in MAP during storage. The 0.8%-salt pre-rigor cured loin treated with HWEST (5%, 10%) exhibited the same CL as the 1.5%-salt post-rigor cured loin. VAC elicited no differences in physicochemical properties between the 1.5%-salt post-rigor cured loin and HWEST-treated 0.8%-salt pre-rigor cured loin after the 8-wk storage period. However, the 0.8%-salt pre-rigor cured loin treated with HWEST (5%, 10%) yielded the same EM value as the 1.5%-salt post-rigor cured loin after 8 wk of VAC storage. Conclusion: The low salt content of meat products can be compensated for using pre-rigor cured loin, HWEST, and MAP.