Table 1.
Cooking losses, pH, water activity, and moisture and fat contents of non-intact course ground beef patties before and after cooking to various internal end-point temperatures.
| Beef | Before Cooking | After Heating to (°C) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 55 | 62.5 | 71.1 | 76 | ||
| Cooking losses (%) | - | 17.83 ± 5.56 a | 24.17 ± 2.71 b | 26.67 ± 2.50 b | 29.00 ± 1.55 b |
| pH | 5.60 ± 0.07 a | 5.98 ± 0.11 b | 6.07 ± 0.16 b | 6.08 ± 0.15 b | 6.09 ± 0.15 b |
| Water activity | 0.992 ± 0.001 a | 0.990 ± 0.003 a | 0.991 ± 0.005 a | 0.990 ± 0.003 a | 0.987 ± 0.003 a |
| Moisture (%) | 70.53 ± 0.55 a | 66.63 ± 1.85 b | 64.36 ± 1.23 bc | 63.04 ± 1.25 c | 62.60 ± 1.18 c |
| Fat (%) | 6.46 ± 0.77 a | 8.62 ± 0.65 b | 9.34 ± 0.44 b | 9.45 ± 0.55 b | 8.96 ± 0.60 b |
Mean values with a different lowercase letter within a row are significantly different (p < 0.05).