Instrumental and consumer evaluation of pork restructured with activa™ or with fibrimex™ formulated with and without phosphate

Pork treatments were restructured with: (1) 1.15 g/100 g Activa™ TG-RM (TG); (2) 10 g/100 g Fibrimex™ (control-10); (3) 5 g/100 g Fibrimex™(control-5); (4) 5 g/100 g Fibrimex™ plus 0.3 g/100 g sodium tripolyphosphate (STP). Color, proximate analysis, texture profile analysis, cook yield, dimensional change, and bind strength of raw and cooked treatments were evaluated. TG had the strongest raw and cooked bind (P⩽0.05P⩽0.05). Hardness and gumminess were similar for all treatments (P>0.05P>0.05); however, TG resulted in the most cohesiveness (P⩽0.05P⩽0.05). Consumer analysis was performed on treatments 1, 2 and 4. Consumers rated TG higher for flavor and overall acceptability (P⩽0.05P⩽0.05) with no differences among treatments for texture (P>0.05P>0.05). Restructured pork steaks formulated with the combination of STP and 5 g/100 g Fibrimex™ were rated similar to 10 g/100 g Fibrimex™ in texture and flavor indicating that steaks formulated with the STP treatment are acceptable to consumers as well as being economically viable.