The objective of the current study was to investigate how heating for long periods using sous-vide low-temperature cooking approach affects the physical and sensory qualities of meat. Cuts of beef and pork shank were thawed, seasoned with salt (1% wt), and vacuum-sealed; the meat was then cooked in an isothermal dryer under five temperature conditions (55, 60, 65, 70, and 75°C) and four time periods (1, 3, 5, and 7 days). Collagen denaturation ability to tenderize beef meat had its limits, with samples becoming harder between Day 5 and Day 7 when cooked at 55, 60, or 65°C. The softest values were found on Day 5 at 75°C for beef and on Day 3 at 75°C for pork. These findings evidence the importance of selecting temperature and time conditions that optimize the tenderization of meat based on the cut and animal of origin.

Curing with salt reduces water content in food and extends its shelf life; therefore, understanding salt permeability in food is critical to food quality and safety. Although there are many new techniques to measure salt concentrations in food, they cannot be applied in practice owing to drawbacks such as the need for expensive equipment or the inability to image quickly; therefore, development of a fast and simple measurement method is crucial. Silver dichromate is converted to silver chloride when it encounters chloride ions. Based on this principle, we soaked radishes in NaCl solutions of different concentrations and added a layer of silver dichromate to it. Salt concentrations was observed in 5 min, as areas with NaCl concentration of ≥1 % appeared white, whereas the other regions appeared red. A strong correlation (r = 0.94/0.96) was observed between the area of salt concentrations measured using this method and that measured using the conventional salt measurement method, demonstrating the reliability of the method. This method will help advance research related to salt concentrations in food and its application in industrial scenarios.

Mayonnaise has a long history as a representative of emulsified sauces. As people become more health-conscious, salad dressings (emulsified and non-emulsified) with lower fat content gradually appear in people’s lives. Both sauces are widely used in everyday life for meat marinades because they contain seasonings such as spices, salt, and vinegar. Although there are many studies on how condiments such as spices, salt, and vinegar affect meat, the effects of semi-solid/liquid emulsions and non-emulsified marinades on meat have yet to be further discussed and analyzed. Therefore, studying the physical and chemical effects of mayonnaise (semi-solid emulsified emulsion) and salad dressing (liquid emulsion and non-emulsified sauce) on meat is essential for improving food quality and safety. Thus, this paper examines the impacts of mayonnaise, emulsified salad dressing, and non-emulsified salad dressing on the physicochemical properties and sensory evaluations of meat. The results showed that the three sauces effectively reduced cooking losses when used as marinades for chicken breasts. In the juiciness and firmness tests, both mayonnaise and non-emulsified salad dressings positively affected the meat. This study also found that lower pH values were not always effective at reducing meat hardness and that emulsification may play a key role in reducing meat hardness.

In this study, we focused on information regarding the food preparation process and aimed to investigate the influence of the presence of a person cooking on food evaluation. For the same-food-photo (rice ball or miso soup), participants had to complete a nine-item questionnaire related to their food evaluation using a seven-point Likert scale, divided into cases where only the name of the food was written and where it was written as being machine-made or handmade. We also administered the same questionnaire divided into cases with text-only recipes, with photos of cooking utensils and ingredients, or with photos of the cook. The groups labeled with only the food names and the handmade label had significantly higher scores than those labeled as being machine-made regarding healthiness, time and effort, and whether the food was ‘made with love.’ The text-only versions significantly improved the appearance of the miso soup compared to photos with the cook. This study revealed that information regarding food being handmade had a more positive impact than that which was machine-made, but this was comparable to text-only photos. Because the handmade label can be influenced by context, future research should investigate in more detail the circumstances in which the handmade label influences it.

Visual cues strongly influence consumer evaluations of food, but sauce presentation may also affect how diners interact with a dish during consumption. In a naturalistic restaurant field study, 57 participants completed a counterbalanced within-participant comparison of minimal and drizzle sauce presentations, with evaluations collected before and after tasting. An integrated 2 (presentation) × 2 (phase) × 2 (presentation order) repeated-measures analysis showed that, before tasting, minimal presentation was rated as healthier than drizzle presentation after adjustment for order (adjusted mean difference = 0.60, 95% CI [0.19, 1.00], p = 0.005; Holm- and FDR-adjusted p = 0.032). After tasting, minimal presentation received higher unadjusted ratings of intention to eat more and overall liking, but neither difference survived multiplicity correction. No presentation × phase interaction was significant. Because sauce placement also changed diners’ opportunity to regulate sauce use, post-consumption findings are interpreted as effects of presentation-and-consumption format rather than visual presentation alone. Thus, the clearest finding concerns pre-consumption healthiness inference, whereas the post-consumption results are smaller and exploratory.