Texture Evaluation of Pork - Measurement of Texture of Pork by a Penetrating Strength Test

Introduction

Today, Japanese people eat more pork than any other type of meat, 10 kg per person per year. Let's look at the history of eating pork in Japan. Generally, it is believed that Japanese people started to eat pork in the Meiji Era (1868-1912). In ancient times, they ate wild boar meat. It has been discovered that people kept wild boar during the Yayoi Era (1000 BC to 300 AD). It is imagined that people kept them free-range instead of penned in cages, fed them leftover food scraps, and ate them during festivals or special occasions. People nowadays like tender meat more than chewy meat. Therefore, various measures are taken to make pork tender, for example by soaking it in water or in protein degrading enzyme solution to quickly achieve an adequate level of tenderness. Two cuts of store-bought Boston pork butt were soaked for 20 hours, one in water and the other in a protein degrading enzyme solution. A penetrating strength test was then performed on them and their textures were converted into numerical values for comparison.

July 13, 2010 GMT