Drying Modelling, Moisture Diffusivity and Sensory Quality of Thin Layer Dried Beef

Abstract

The objective of the present study was to determine the drying kinetics, moisture diffusivity and sensory quality of convective air dried beef. The effect of temperature of drying (30-60°C) and thickness of samples (2.5-10 mm) on the convective thin-layer drying kinetics of beef dried in a cabinet dryer was evaluated. Five semi-theoretical models were fit to the drying experimental data with the aim of predicting drying characteristics of beef and fitting quality of models determined using the standard error of estimate (SEE) and coefficient of determination (R2). Determination of effective moisture diffusivity (Deff) from the experimental drying data was done and sensory quality of the optimized dried cooked and uncooked beef samples evaluated. Drying time and rate of drying increased with an increasing temperature but decreased with increased slice thickness. However, there was overlapping of drying curves at 40-50°C. Among the selected models, Page model gave the best prediction of beef drying characteristics. Effective moisture diffusivity (Deff) ranged between 4.2337 x 10-11 and 5.5899 x 10-10 m2/s, increasing with an increase in air temperature and beef slice thickness. Of all the sensory parameters evaluated, texture was the only attribute that gave significantly different (P ≤ 0.05) scores between the cooked and uncooked dried beef samples.