MECHANISM OF DETERMINING THE KINETICS OF MOISTURE CONTENT AND TEMPERATURE IN MEAT DURING CONDUCTIVE DRYING

Aim. Establishing the rational thickness of meat during conductive drying based on the obtained kinetics of moisture content and temperature, specific energy consumption and organoleptic evaluation of the quality of dried products. Methods. An experimental stand has been developed for conducting research. Standard methods of analysis were used for the research - duration of the process, output of the finished product, moisture content, etc. Statistical processing of experimental research results was carried out using standard Microsoft Office and Mathcad software packages. Results. The work developed an experimental stand and proposed methods for studying the kinetics of moisture content and temperature in experimental samples of pork meat. The kinetics of moisture content and temperature in pork meat of different thicknesses were determined experimentally. It was established that the determined kinetic dependencies during conductive drying have a common feature with other drying methods, however they are compressed in time. Theoretical models of the kinetics of moisture content in meat and the kinetics of temperature in the surface layers of meat are offered in the form of modified exponents which describe the real kinetics with a reliability up to 95 %. The quality of the finished product was evaluated by the organoleptic method, according to which the dried meat with an initial thickness of 0.003 m was the best. The specific electricity consumption for the process of drying test sample of meat of different thicknesses was studied. Conclusions. A feature of conductive drying of food products is small heat loss and speed of the process. The kinetics of the moisture content of meat during conductive drying were studied. It was established that the highest quality of finished products and the lowest specific electricity consumption can be achieved with the initial thickness of the samples of 0.003 m. It is offered to remove layers of dried meat during drying using physical and electrophysical methods in order to intensify the process of conductive drying.