Résumé
Traditional processes of meat fermentation involve sequential operations of salting, fermentation and drying. An alternative process·for the fermentation of non-comminuted meat consists of two successive operations: a first osmotic treatment to partially dehydrate and to impregnate the meat with salt and sugars, followed by a fermentation with added starter culture. This innovative sequential operations combination is proposed in an attempt to shorten and simplify the process and to minimise sanitary risks associated with the fermentation step, especially under tropical conditions. In what extent meat can be subjected to a pre drying step before fermentation? To answer this question, we evaluated the effect of water loss during the osmotic treatment on the kinetics of fermentation. Beef meat fillets were immersed in solutions with concentrated solutions of salt and glucose syrup. Salt concentration of the soaking solution and immersion time were designed in order to obtain water loss from 20 to 30, salt and sugar gain of 2 g/100g initial mass (usual meat products salt and sugar contents). Then they were inoculated with Lactobacillus sake; and incubated at 25°C and 98% relative humidity. At known incubation time intervals, meat samples were assayed for their microbiological load, pH, glucose, lactic and acetic acid contents. Kinetics of fermentation showed that for both conditions, lactic acid bacteria growth was accompanied by a decrease of the pH, glucose and L-lactic acid contents, and an increase in acetic acid content within 72 hours of incubation. D-Iactic acid was produced within 24 hours after which this amount decreased. These results indicated that lactic acid fermentation occurred in both cases. There was a significant effect of the water loss on the D-Iactic acid content produced within 24 hours. D-Iactic acid content was 0.6% dry basis and 0.2% for an osmotic treatment allowing a water loss of 20% and 30% respectively. Moreover, glucose consumption was more rapid in the second case, suggesting that both sugar formulation and water loss must be studied in order to identify the best formulation by osmotic treatment that allow optimal fermentation. This innovative process could be an alternative to traditional preservation meat processes. (Texte intégral)