Development Of Sustainable Drying Strategies For Beef Drying

Summary

Organic food is regarded as more sustainable compared to other processing forms, however, usually only the production on farm is considered and not the postharvest processing steps. Often, food processing steps do not differ in organic processing compared to conventional food processing which could impact the quality and the sustainability of the product. Innovative approaches that focus on individualized processes by non-invasive measurements during processing, could enable improvements for both product quality and sustainability. In this study the usability of hyperspectral imaging in terms of drying of salted beef samples was investigated. Beef slices were dipped in salt solution and dried at 50, 60 and 70 °C. The question was if it is possible to build prediction models for moisture content (MC) and colour parameters, although the drying behaviour is different. The results indicate the possibility for implementing non-invasive product monitoring during processing to enable individual and therefore sustainable processes.