Effect of pretreatments and vacuum drying on instant dried pork process optimization.

Dehydrated meat which can be instantly rehydrated is needed by the industry. This research was aimed to investigate a more economical drying process. Central composite design was applied with three variables: cooking pressure, cooking time, and vacuum drying temperature. The responses were shear force (N), work of shear (N.mm) and % rehydration. The multiple linear regression equation models could predict 91.7, 90.9 and 94.8% of each response, respectively. Cooked pork meat was used for target responses. Its maximum shear force was 43.39±5.42 N, and work of shear was 419.50±64.17 N.mm. Vacuum drying temperature highly affected all responses. Validation of the predicted data was done using two optimum conditions. First condition was cooking pressure of 21.6 lb/in.(2), cooking time of 50 min, and vacuum drying temperature of 95°C. The second condition was cooking pressure of 38.4 lb/in.(2), cooking time of 35 min, and vacuum drying temperature of 100°C. A t-test confirmed that the observed data were not statistically different from the predicted data.