Neutron Imaging of Meat during Cooking

Simone Scussat (1) , Frédéric Ott (2) , Arnaud Hélary (2) , Sylvain Desert (2) , Philippe Cayot (1) , Camille Loupiac (2, 1)

1 PAPC - Procédés Alimentaires et Physico-Chimie
2 LLB - UMR 12 - Laboratoire Léon Brillouin

Neutron imaging was used to follow the impact of cooking on beef meat. During online cooking, the cartography realised on image collected shows neutron attenuation per zone. Some data points were taken on the edge to highlight higher attenuation variations because of "microscopic" shrinkage of the meat at 70 degrees C. Some others points were taken in the centre of the sample, which first showed smaller decreases at 75 degrees C and then an increase around 80 degrees C. These smaller attenuation variations are possibly linked to denaturation of connective tissue which in turn influenced meat microstructure allowing the release of entrapped water and increase the thickness of the sample.

Mots clés: Neutron imaging; Meat; Cooking; Contraction; Water migration; Differential scanning calorimetry; Structural-changes; Nmr relaxometry; Heat; tomography; Muscle; Denaturation; Dehydration; Proteins

Domaines: Ingénierie des aliments

Simone Scussat, Frédéric Ott, Arnaud Hélary, Sylvain Desert, Philippe Cayot, et al.. Neutron Imaging of Meat during Cooking. Food Biophysics, 2016, 11 (3), pp.207 - 212. ⟨10.1007/s11483-016-9431-x⟩. ⟨hal-01495127⟩