Effect of rapid and conventional cooling methods on the quality of cooked ham joints.

Three cooling regimes, vacuum (VC), blast (BC) and slow cooling (SC), were compared for their effect on cooling rate, weight loss and quality of large cooked ham joints. Vacuum cooling reduced the cooling rate (70-4°C) significantly (P<0.05) in comparison to the other methods; mean cooling times for cooked hams (5-6 kg) were 1.9 h for VC, 11.7 for BC and 14.3 for SC. However, VC gave an increased chill loss (P<0.05) of ca. 11% compared to ca. 4% for the other methods due to evaporative moisture loss. Sensory panels found that VC hams were tougher and less juicy (P<0.05). Shear force measurements and texture profile analysis also showed the vacuum cooling to have a toughening effect on the cooked ham. While vacuum cooling had an adverse effect on quality and yield, it was the only one that conformed to recent safety guidelines for cooked meat joints of a reduction in temperature to 5°C inside 10 h. The cooling conditions used do not reproduce full-scale industrial practice, however, the effects found serve as an indicator of the potential benefits and drawbacks of vacuum cooling for cooked meat joints.