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Beef Jerky Research Paper

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The following ingredients are used in Beef Jerky: beef, salt, spices, sugar, monosodium glutamate, garlic powder, dextrose, and sodium nitrite. Two of these ingredients have animals products in them, those being beef and sugar. To process the beef, the cattle must be between the ages of 13 months to 2 years. In order to make the desired meat for beef jerky, the breed should be a black/red angus or any cattle that is grass fed. It is then taken to the slaughterhouse and is led into a 2 foot wide chute that is arched toward the end so the cattle does see what is ahead of it. At the end, the cattle is trapped in a knock box, where an item such as a rod is used to stun the animal on the head. In order to proceed, the cattle must be dead at this …show more content…

Bone char contains natural carbon, and because of this, it is used to produce the pure white color that is commonly seen in cane sugar. It is used also as the refining process, where impurities such as sulfate can be removed. After the cow is slaughtered, the bones are collected. The spine and skull, however, are not used in order to prevent disease. The bones are put into enormous chimneys located in a kiln that holds a maximum of 10 tons of bones. Oxygen and temperature play a big role in the quality of the bone char. The bones are burned at 400 degrees celsius to 500 degrees celsius; this is when the best bone char is produced. During the first five hours, the burning bones are carefully observed because the smoke reveals whether or not the bone char is ready. This process take place for 10-14 days. Next, the black, white, and grey-brownish char are separated. The black char goes through another round of charring while the white and grey-brownish char are crushed. The bone char is crushed using a crushing machine or is done by hand. Finally, the cleansing process begins. First, the bone char is washed with sodium hydroxide (NaOH) to remove inorganic impurities (24 hours), then it is drained and rinsed using water to reduce the color (9 hours). After the water is drained, Carbon Dioxide (CO2) enriched water is used to reduce the pH level down to a pH level less than 8 and is then drained (18 hours). Lastly, the final …show more content…

There are three ways to extract the meat: separating liquid fat particles using a centrifuge, squeezing out fat by pressing on it, or filtering the meat. Even more processes are conducted to ensure that all unwanted items in the meat are removed, by conducting procedures such as water separation, magnet removal, and using a metal screen to shake out the undesired materials. Next, the curing solution is prepared in a large tank with mixing blades. A solution is made consisting of water, salt, seasonings, and other desired materials, and is mixed together in the tank. After the solution is heated, the solution is ready. With the defatted/deboned meat, it is then sliced into chunks and frozen. Another way to process the meat would be by grounding it using a bowl chopping machine. Following the first method, the meat is then partially melted to release its natural juices. The pieces are then saturated in the solution, and are left to to dry for a prolonged period of time so that they can fully soak in the solution. With the second method, the solution can be mixed immediately with the pieces of meat, but the quality will will not be as good. Either way, the meat is shaped into blocks and cooled to -8 to -2.2 degrees celsius (18-28 fahrenheit). When desirably frozen, the chunks are cut into strips and cut alongside the fiber to create a natural, finished look. At long last, they are placed into drying

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