Kinetic modelling of colour changes during beef roasting

AbstractIn this work a simple kinetic model to describe the colour (redness) changes during beef roasting is developed. Colour changes information was measured using small semitendinosus muscle samples at different time-temperature treatments. Afterward these thermal treatments, surface colour information in the CIEL*a*b* colour space was obtained using a Colorimeter. The obtained colour results were used to develop a simple first order fractional kinetic model for redness variation. In the kinetic model, the reaction rates were correlated with temperature according to an Arrhenius relationship; the constant rate was found as k0=1.4482×1010 s-1, and the activation energy was found as Ea=80.7397kJ mol-1. The colour model predictions are in good agreement with experimental ones, with an error less than 7%. Also, the colour kinetic model can be successfully coupled to a heat and mass transfer cooking model, in order to include quality aspects into cooking simulation. Since for large samples can exist important temperature differences between core and surface regions, also can exist colour differences in such regions, which can be predicted by coupling the colour kinetic model