Influence of vacuum application, acid addition and partial replacement of NaCl by KCl on the mass transfer during salting of beef cuts

• The application of vacuum pulses during salting increased the water loss.
• Salt gain was higher for samples treated with vacuum pulses.
• Marination with citric and lactic acids increased the water loss.
• Marination with different acids decreased the salt gain.
• The results revealed that the diffusion of K+ in the beef is faster than of Na+.

The objective of this work was to study the influence of different salting procedures on the water loss (WL) and salt gain (StG) kinetics of beef cuts. The following procedures were evaluated: wet salting at atmospheric pressure; pulsed-vacuum wet salting (with application of one or three vacuum pulses); dry salting; pulsed-vacuum marination in brines with acetic, citric or lactic acid; and pulsed-vacuum salting in brines with partial replacement of NaCl by KCl. From the obtained experimental results, we verified that the application of three vacuum pulses during wet salting increased the WL by 20% and the StG by 15% in comparison with the wet salting at atmospheric pressure. In contrast, addition of different acids in the brine decreased the StG by 13–24% after 6 h of immersion. Moreover, results obtained with partial replacement of NaCl by KCl revealed that the diffusion of K+ is faster than of Na+ and also that KCl has a smaller capability of reducing water activity. This demonstrates the importance of adjusting salting time when using mixtures of NaCl and KCl for elaborating products with reduced Na+ levels.