Drying kinetics behavior of turkey breast meat in different drying methods

In this study, turkey breast meat samples were dried with hot air (60, 75, 90 degrees C), microwave (180, 360, 540 W) and freeze (0.1, 0.15, 0.2 mbar) drying and parameters related to the drying kinetics of turkey breast meat were investigated. Although a constant drying rate was not observed for all drying methods, the drying process occurred only during the falling drying rate period. Microwave drying process times were lower than those of hot air and freeze drying because of volumetric heating. Drying times decreased by increasing temperature, power and vacuum pressure. Kinetic parameters were determined by using the semi-empirical models of 2. Fick's diffusion equation. Two terms, Logarithmic and Page models were found to be better for hot air, microwave and freeze drying, respectively. In addition, the effective diffusion coefficient values were found in range of 2.03-2.53 x 10(-10), 27.89-103.96 x 10(-10)and 2.99-3.36 x 10(-10)m(2)/s for hot air, microwave and freeze drying, respectively. Effective diffusion coefficients increased in direct proportion with temperature, microwave power and vacuum pressure. The activation energy obtained by the modified Arrhenius equation were 7.481 kJ/mol to 6.043 W/g for hot air and microwave drying respectively. Practical Applications The drying kinetics behavior of foods is important for protecting the final product quality, determining the process method and optimizing the process parameters in the food industry. Despite the availability of many drying kinetics studies, meat products exhibit different behaviors during the drying process due to their structure and composition. The drying kinetics behavior of turkey breast meat with different drying techniques was investigated in this study. When the effective diffusion coefficient and activation energy data were considered, it was noticed that microwave drying provided a faster and more effective drying process. The moisture content and water activity values, which are very important especially for meat products, showed that freeze drying provided a more reliable product by reducing the moisture content and water activity of final product more than other drying methods.