Restructured Whole-Tissue Meats 417pieces. Research into technologies that can
slice chilled, raw, restructured meats should
be undertaken. Success in this regard will
ensure better appearance for restructured
products and a saving in cost.
Current trends indicate consumers are
demanding more natural products with no
additives of any kind if possible. This chal-
lenge should be taken up by the industry and
researchers to produce restructured whole -
tissue meats that meet this requirement.
There are indications (Farouk and Zhang
2005 ) that pressure alone without any binder
can be used to create enough surface protein
matrices on whole - tissue meat to achieve rea-
sonable bind strength on hot - setting. More
research should be done to explore this and
other possibilities of achieving binding of
whole - tissue meats without the use of exter-
nal binders.
Enhancement of meat and the stretching
of prerigor muscles are recent techniques
employed to improve the eating quality and
consistency of meat from whole - tissue
muscles. Research should be done to deter-
mine if these techniques can be used to
improve the texture and tenderness of the
raw materials used for whole - tissue
restructuring.
The problem of warmed - over fl avor and
aroma in restructured meats has been recog-
nized for a long time. The use of natural
antioxidants to control warmed - over fl avor
and lipid oxidation is promising. However,
research that seeks to combine natural anti-
oxidants and packaging to solve fl avor and
odor issues in whole - tissue restructured
meats is not being given the attention it
deserves and should be encouraged.
More whole - tissue restructured meats are
produced in shapes and sizes that are differ-
ent from the traditional steak products. For
example, restructured free - fl ow individually
quick - frozen cubes from whole muscles or
boneless cuts are manufactured for use in
ready meals and stroganoff - type products.propyl gallate and a beef fl avoring in the for-
mulation of restructured beef steaks from
forage - and grain - fed cattle and matured
cows respectively, and demonstrated that the
strong grassy fl avor of forage - fi nished beef
steaks detected by a sensory panel was
masked by the beef fl avoring agent, thereby
improving consumer acceptance of the
restructured steaks. The use of propyl gallate
retarded lipid oxidation and the development
of rancid fl avors in restructured steaks from
matured cows, but was unable to overcome
the low acceptability of steaks with inherent
off - fl avors. The use of propyl gallate in com-
bination with the beef fl avoring agent helped
mask mature forage - fed off - fl avors.
Future Trends
To achieve a more natural look in restruc-
tured whole - tissue products, meat fi bers must
be aligned so that they are perpendicular to
the face of the steak. Currently, the alignment
is achieved manually, and we are not aware
of any equipment that automates the process.
If the process of fi ber alignment during
restructuring can be mechanized, it will
reduce the cost of producing restructured
meat products and help the industry to capture
the current trend in the increased consump-
tion of steaks and the demand for conve-
nience by the consumer. Meat and Livestock
Australia has taken out a provisional patent
on a “ meat strip alignment technology ” and
indicated in their 2006 – 07 annual report
(MLA 2008 ) that they were trialing the tech-
nology in conjunction with an Australian
added - value meat processor. The outcome of
this trial has not yet been reported in the
public domain for the technology to be
assessed.
Cold - set restructured whole - tissue meats
currently have to be crust or deep frozen
before fabrication in order to get a clean -
looking steak surface or shaped product, and
also to avoid breaking the bind between meat