Fundamentals of Water Holding Capacity (WHC) of Meat

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
   1. Objectives
   2. Learning goals
   3. Teacher page
2. List of Abbreviations used in this Learning Resource
3. Section I: Introduction and Significance of WHC
   1. What is WHC?
   2. Overview of Proteins, Fat, pH and Water and WHC
   3. Compartments for Holding Water in Meat
   4. Activity - Section I
4. Section II: Major Factors Affecting WHC
   1. Role of Animal Genetics and WHC
   2. Role of Pre-harvest Handling of Pigs on WHC
   3. Conversion of Muscle-to-Meat Issues and WHC
   4. Muscle Extensibility and Rigor Mortis
   5. Activity - Section II
5. Section III: Mechanism for Holding of Water in Pork
   1. Concepts for holding of Water in Meat
   2. How is Water Held in Meat?
   3. Graphic Representation of WHC and Important Concepts
   4. Examples of Extrinsic Factors Affecting WHC of Processed Meats
   5. Activity - Section III
6. Section IV: Fundamental Science of Water Holding Capacity
   1. Expanding the Knowledge of WHC
   2. The Assignment
   3. Activity - Section IV
7. Section V: Methods for Determining WHC
   1. Complexity of Measuring WHC
   2. What Moisture Categories of Water need to be Measured?
   3. Video: Great Visualization of four WHC Methods
   4. Methods for Measuring WHC of Meat
   5. Activity - Section V
8. Section VI: Recent Advances in Measuring & Monitoring WHC
   1. Need for Fast, Real-time, Non-destructive WHC Methods
   2. Potential Fast and Non-destructive Methods
   3. Activity - Section VI
9. Selected References related to WHC
10. References: Q-Pork Chain & Other Instrumental Methodology for WHC
11. Completion
    1. Comments
    2. Self assessment
    3. Evaluation
12. Acknowledgement

Video: Great Visualization of four WHC Methods

This video gives you an overview of the following methods:

1. Bag drip from vertical sample, calculate % drip loss (Honikel, 1998)
2. Drip from horizontal sample, calculate % drip loss (Barton-Gade, 1993)
3. Tube drip from a 3-cm diameter sample, calculate % drip loss (Rasmussen and Andersson, 1996)
4. Filter paper contact of a vertical surface, visually score filter paper wetness (Kauffman et. al., 1986a,b)

These 4 methods would be expected to yield similar relative treatment differences in WHC. However, only the bag drip method of Honikel (1996) has been identified as a "standardized" reference method for raw, whole meat and it (or something similar with slight modifications) is frequently used as "reference data" and comparison with results from new, developing WHC methodology.