Methods of processing and preservation of meat

Read the text and answer the questions on it.

1) What methods of processing and preservation of meat are presented the text? 2) Which of them is most effective?

3) Which of them is the oldest one?

4) Which of them do you prefer as a consumer?

5) What other methods do you know as a specialist?

 

Meat was originally processed to preserve it, but since the various procedures cause so many changes in texture and flavour it is also a means of adding variety to the diet. Processing also provides scope to mix the less desirable parts of the carcass with lean meat and in addition is a means of extending meat supplies by including other foodstuffs such as cereal in the product.

Meat is a highly perishable products and soon becomes unfit to eat and possibly dangerous to health through microbial growth, chemical change and breakdown by endogenous enzymes.

These processes can be curtailed by reducing the temperature sufficiently to slow down or inhibit the growth of micro-organisms, by heating to destroy organisms and enzymes (cooking, canning), or by removal of water by drying or osmotic control (binding the water with salt or other substances so that it becomes unavailable to the organisms). It is also possible to use chemicals to inhibit growth and, very recently, ionising radiation (however, the last is not allowed in some countries).

Traditional methods that have been used for thousands of years involve drying in wind and sun, salting and smoking. Canning dates from early in the 19th century and allows food to be stored for many years since it is sterilised and protected from recontamination.

Processed meats are products in which the properties of fresh meat have been modified by the use of procedures such as mincing, grinding or chopping, salting and curing, addition of seasonings and other food materials, and, in many instances heat treatment. Most of these processes extend the shelf life of meat. Their manufacture, in most instances, depends on the ability of the mixture to retain water since they are emulsions of protein, fat and water.

Tumbling and massaging. A new technique was developed in the 1960's to accelerate the penetration of salt. Pieces of meat are injected with the curing salt solution or chopped meat immersed in it and then mechanically shaken – «tumbled». Solutions of 2-8% salt are used, sometimes with the addition of polyphosphate, when there is some extraction of water-soluble protein, mainly myosin. The effect is to improve the water-holding capacity of the meat by reaction between the salt and the structural proteins, aided by the polyphosphate. The extracted proteins set to a strong gel on heating and so bind together the pieces of meat, which can then be shaped or sliced. The term «massaging» is applied to a relatively gentle mechanical treatment while «tumbling» is a more vigorous action.

Smoking. Meat has been treated with smoke from the earliest days - traditionally over a wood fire and more recently by producing smoke from wood sawdust in a generator and conducting the smoke over the meat. The substances deposited on the meat contribute to the flavour and appearance but with ordinary, light smoking the preservative effect is limited and the product has to be stored refrigerated. Intensive smoking does prolong shelf life both by heavier deposition of preservatives and by the drying effect of the hot air but it has a detrimental effect on flavour. Consequently preservation by smoking is regarded as an emergency measure when other methods cannot be used.

A modern development making use of the flavouring effect is to use an aqueous solution of the constituents of smoke which reduces the amount of strongly flavoured and other unwanted substances.

 

Text 4

PROCESSED MEAT PRODUCTS

1. Read the text below and put in the proper word from the vocabulary: pork, pasteurizing, meat, water-holding, maturation, depend on, smoked, value.

The commonest cured products are sausages, bacon, pork shoulder, ham, luncheon meat. Any type of … can be cured either as whole cuts or after comminution.

Bacon is cured …, in various countries traditionally made from specified parts of the pig but it can be made from any part. There are modifications of the process including so called sweet cure with added sugar (0.25%) and mild cure with less salt.

Ham is the cured product of the upper leg and buttock of the pig and differs from gammon only in that the latter is cut from the side of bacon after it has been cured. It is stable when raw after a certain period of … but is often cooked to pasteurisation temperature, 70°C, or it may be canned at … temperature. It may be … as an additional means of preservation and flavouring.

Comminuted products such as sausages and luncheon meats are based on lean meat, which, technologically, provides water-holding and meat-binding capacity, with the addition of fatty meats and, sometimes, organ meats. The amount of these is limited otherwise the products have an unattractive soft texture and high shrinkage on cooking.

The ingredients include cereals and potato starch, termed fillers, which also serve to bulk out the supply of meat products («meat extenders»). Other ingredients include a number of substances which have considerable … and binding capacity («binders»). These include egg or egg yolk blood plasma, skim milk powder, caseinates, soya isolates, wheat gluten, whey protein and dehydrated products derived from various vegetable proteins (soybean, safflower, corn, peanut and pea protein) and their binding properties … their ability to form irreversible gels on mild heating which serve to hold together the small pieces of meat.

It is not posssible to generalise about the nutritional … of products of such variable composition.

 

Text 5

THE DANGERS OF COW'S MILK

Read the text and put the paragraphs (A-D) into the correct order (1-4).

Humans place themselves in the odd position of being

the only animals that consume milk after weaning.

A The harmful components of cow's milk include all the major parts of it, as well as some more minor elements. Lactose is a sugar meant for babies, but it's generally harmful to adults. The proteins in cow's milk are different from human milk proteins and cause problems of digestion, intolerance, impaired absorption of other nutrients, and autoimmune reactions. Few of the proteins meant for baby cows are found naturally in human mother's milk, and none are found in any natural adult human food. Even the high protein content in cow’s milk creates problems. Human babies need the saturated fats and cholesterol in mother's milk. Bovine milk fat is not appropriately composed for human babies and is only deleterious to the health of children and adults. Cow hormones are not meant for humans, and older children and adults are not meant to consume hormones. And, cows have been selectively bred over time to create high levels of these hormones – those being the cows that grow the fastest and produce the greatest amount of milk. Cows also concentrate pesticides and pollutants into their milk fat, from their high dietary food and water requirements. The high amount of drugs now given to cows adds to this chemical soup. But we need milk to build strong bones, don't we? Actually, heavy milk consumption leads to increased osteoporosis.

B Today, many of the problems parents have with their babies are linked to new parenting and feeding techniques that have been implemented during the recent century. Colic, for instance, is far more common in the U.S. than in many other places around the world. Two chief causes for its rise are the stress suffered by babies being regularly separated from their mothers, and the common difficulties babies have tolerating the large cow's milk proteins in infant formulas and breastfeeding mothers' diets. Cow's milk is a foreign substance that has pervaded every corner of our diets – starting with artificial infant feeds, but finding its way into mother's breastmilk through the foods she eats as well. As it turns out, health problems such as childhood diabetes, obesity, bowel disease, osteoporosis, heart disease, cataracts, colic, ear infections, hyperactivity, and cancer, on the rise in both children and adults, are strongly linked to infant feeding choices.

C Knowing and avoiding the potentially harmful effects that high dairy consumption and milk-sensitivity reactions can have on your child is just as important and loving as nursing, close bonding, and informed health care decisions. What we feed our children matters; how we parent them matters. These measures will lead to the best health, comfort and happiness available to a child. Parents have the power to create and enjoy healthier, happier children with brighter futures.

D While there are literally thousands of research studies, each revealing at least one of milk's hazards, the dairy industry goes to great lengths to stifle any damaging rumors. Blanket statements, such as, «There is simply no scientific research to back up these claims,» are easily made. With a long and successful history of dairy promotion, these are readily accepted by the public. More people need to go to the real research and learn the truth for themselves. They should be very suspicious of these foreign foods being pushed on their children. They should question motives as well as possible outcomes. Although some of the dangers of cow's milk consumption relate more to adults than to children, parents' actions form the basis for lifelong dairy-consuming habits in their children.

 

Text 6.