Tenderness indicators in salted and dried meat: a review

Salted and dried meats are known and appreciated worldly. Their consumption is often associated to certain groups of people or particular regions, and due to this, they can be called traditional. They usually have simple technology, passed on from generation to generation and for this reason, there is much variation in the quality of these products. In Brazil charque, jerked beef and sun-dried meat stand out. Biltong, cecina de León, kilishi, kaddid and bresaola are other examples of salted and dried meats. Despite the importance of these meat products, there are no specific studies on their tenderness. Since tenderness is one of the attributes most reported by consumers, research may help the acceptance of meat products, increasing their demand. In this context, this review presents the characteristics of traditional salted and dried meat products related to processing aspects and suggested tenderness indicators - shear force, myofibrillar fragmentation index, sarcomere length, collagen quantification – to assess the softness of meat products, since they are easy to apply and include the study of the main responsible for meat softness, myofibrillar and connective tissue proteins.