Effect of ultrasonic‐assisted brining on mass transfer of beef

Abstract The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of ultrasonic intensity (7.5, 10.0, and 12.7 W/cm 2 ) and treatment time (10, 20, and 30 min) on mass transfer of beef during brining process. Changes in the salt and moisture contents in brined beef showed that ultrasound treatment had a positive effect on the mass transfer during brining process. The high correlation between the weight changes of beef and treatment time indicated that the mass transfer kinetics model could be used to evaluate the weight changes of beef during ultrasonic‐assisted brining process. The increase of NaCl diffusion coefficients calculated by the Fick's second law suggested that ultrasound treatment could accelerate the NaCl diffusion into beef ( p < .05). The binarized images visualized the increments of NaCl solution in beef by ultrasonic‐assisted brining. These results provided a basis for the ultrasound application in rapid brining of meat products. Practical applications Ultrasound as a novel and promising technology has some potential advantages in meat processing. This research showed that ultrasound treatment could contribute to the mass transfer during brining processing, and enhanced the NaCl diffusion into beef. The binarized images visualized the quantity of NaCl solution in beef treated with ultrasound. Therefore, ultrasound could be considered as an effective method to accelerate the brining process of meat products.