This work is an experimental study of the effect of thickness and pretreatment on the physicochemical quality of sun-dried camelina meat under the meteorological conditions of Ouargla city in the south-east of Algeria. During the study of the most influential pretreatments parameters, two operating parameters are chosen: thickness $(0.4\pm 0.03$ cm and $0.8\pm 0.03$ cm) and dwell time in a saline solution of sodium chloride (30 minutes and 90 minutes), and then a complete factorial experimental design with two factors and two different levels is adopted. The results show that 30 minutes of residence time in the saline solution and 0.582cm of thickness of the meat slices are the optimal conditions for the pretreatment. Under these optimal conditions, the retention rate of proteins is 94.02%, of lipids 26.95%, the color 76.32%, the shrinkage 50.99% and the maximum moisture rate is 91.11% with a final salinity of 2.64%

The use of X-ray micro-CT imaging (X-ray microtomography), which is an effective imaging technique that provides multiple advantages across different fields (non-destructive, high resolution, density contrast, versatility, in-situ analysis, and 3D modeling), for experimentally determining shrinkage during fruit drying has not been extensively researched. Therefore, the main goal of this paper is to examine the shrinkage phenomenon during convective drying of tomato slices, using three different temperatures (40, 50, and 60°C) at constant air velocity of 1 m.s-1 and very low humidity. Indeed, the shrinkage curves showing the evolution of the volume ratio (V*) versus the water content ratio (X*) are determined by X-ray microtomography. According to the findings, the tomato exhibits anisotropic shrinkage that is not affected by temperature, and a single shrinkage curve is proposed. On average, the volume decreases of 70% of its initial value. The water content affects both thickness and diameter shrinkage in a linear manner until X* is 0.2. However, when the values are below 0.2, the diameter and especially thickness decrease quickly, with a polynomial and logarithmic trend, respectively.

The effect of static drying on the physicochemical quality of camel (Camelus dromedarius) meat slices as driedin an oven at 65 °C, with the aim of contributing to food safety. During the experiments, meat was cutinto. 8 ± 0.2 cm thick slices, soaked in a saline solution for 30 min, and then dried. Moisture content wasmeasured during the drying phase, and physicochemical parameters, such as protein, ash, sodium, pH, and mineral content, such as calcium (Ca), phosphor (P), magnesium (Mg), potassium (K), zinc (Zn), iron (Fe), copper (Cu) and manganese (Mn), were monitored before and after drying. The colorimetric parametersof the dried samples are also measured. The results show that the physicochemical quality of the dried camelmeat meets the requirements of the Codex Alimentarius Commission. Indeed, the moisture content decreased from 73.94 ± 0.51% to 13.33 ± 0.44%, and the dried food samples were characterized by increases (i) from 19.72 ± 0.30% to 50.97 ± 0.65% in protein content; (ii) from 1.115 ± 0.012% to 4.781 ± 0.047%, in ash content; (iii) from 260 ± 11.7 mg to 1690 ± 32 mg, in the sodium content (for 100 g of dry matter), and (iv) from 5.956 ± 0.087 to 6.203 ± 0.091 in pH value. However, the variation is not significant for all mineral content parameters. Finally, themean values of the colorimetric parameters of brightness (L*), redness (a*), and yellowness (b*) are 37.13 ± 1.64, 22.02 ± 0.72, and 7.73 ± 0.69, respectively (before drying) and they are 25.57 ± 1.56, 9.43 ± 0.78, and 3.74 ± 0.21, respectively (after drying).