4. Conclusion
Low temperature treatments of porkM. longissimus dorsi resulted in
significantly higher tenderness and juiciness compared to conventionally
heated samples.While LTLT cooking for 20 h led to the tenderest meat, LT
treatment offered the lowest cooking losses and the highest moisture
content. The sensory panelists preferred the LTLT 53 °C samples as a
balance between tenderness and juiciness. LTLT 58 °C samples were
rated poorly due to a crumbly and dry mouth feeling. As both LT and
LTLT 53 °C samples were evaluated as being equally acceptable, a clear
improvement in palatability of LTLT treatments could not be found. We
conclude that, although LTLT meat was clearly tenderer, particularly
tender meat is not necessarily needed to meet consumer needs. Rather,
a compromise between tenderization and cooking loss has to be found
to obtain a product of high sensory quality