Dehydrated salted meat is a product largely used in Brazil and it is a very important animal protein source. The main objective of this kind of processing is to remove water. Initially by osmotic pressure changes and in a second step, by drying, which results in an intermediate moisture level product. The osmotic dehydration process, with salt uptake and water loss, causes the reduction of the water activity level in beef. Also a change of color occurs during the processing. In this work, these variables were studied in meat pieces submitted to wet and dry salting. The values of water activity were reduced in both treatments, but in dry salting the effect was greater than in wet salting. The value at 10ºC was 0.79 and 20ºC 0.75 after finishing the experiment. The effect of salt into salted meat changed the values L* a* b*, decreased then directly and differently in relation to DE. This study is important to understand and to control the process of salted dehydrated meat production.
meat; salt; water activity; color; parameters L*a*b*
