For centuries, meat and its derived products
have constituted some of the most important
foods consumed in many countries around
the world. Despite this important role, there
are few books dealing with meat and its
processing technologies. This book provides
the reader with an extensive description of
meat processing, giving the latest advances
in technologies, manufacturing processes,
and tools for the effective control of safety
and quality during processing.
To achieve this goal, the book contains 31
chapters distributed in three parts. The fi rst
part deals with the description of meat chemistry,
its quality for further processing,
and the main technologies used in meat
processing, such as decontamination, aging,
freezing, curing, emulsifi cation, thermal processing,
fermentation, starter cultures, drying,
smoking, packaging, novel technologies,
and cleaning. The second part describes the
manufacture and main characteristics of
ix
worldwide meat products such as cooked
ham and sausages, bacon, canned products
and p â t é , dry - cured ham, mold - ripened sausages,
semidry and dry fermented sausages,
restructured meats, and functional meat products.
The third part presents effi cient strategies
to control the sensory and safety quality
of meat and meat products, including physical
sensors, sensory evaluation, chemical
and microbial hazards, detection of GMOs,
HACCP, and quality assurance.
The chapters have been written by distinguished
international experts from fi fteen
countries. The editor wishes to thank all the
contributors for their hard work and for
sharing their valuable experience, as well as
to thank the production team at Wiley -
Blackwell. I also want to express my appreciation
to Ms. Susan Engelken for her kind
support and coordination of this book.