Feasibility assessment of vacuum cooling followed by immersion vacuum cooling on water-cooked pork.

Vacuum cooling followed by immersion vacuum cooling was designed to cool water-cooked pork (1.5±0.05 kg) compared with air blast cooling (4±0.5°C, 2 m/s), vacuum cooling (10 mbar) and immersion vacuum cooling. This combined cooling method was: vacuum cooling to an intermediate temperature of 25°C and then immersion vacuum cooling with water of 10°C to the final temperature of 10°C. It was found that the cooling loss of this combined cooling method was significantly lower (P<0.05) than those of air blast cooling and vacuum cooling. This combined cooling was faster (P<0.05) than air blast cooling and immersion vacuum cooling in terms of cooling rate. Moreover, the pork cooled by combined cooling method had significant differences (P<0.05) in water content, color and shear force.