Study on the quality comparison of hams made by traditional technology and modern technology

Four types of hams produced by different technologies were studied in sensual evaluation, physical and chemical indicators, and the test by electronic tongue. The tests were refer to the national standard. The result of sensory evaluation showed that compare to the traditional ham, the modern ham are the same in outlook and color, but the texture was softer, and not taste as good as the traditional ham. The amino acid content (dry) of the hams from the following four producers, Lanxishuige traditional process, Jinnian traditional process, Parma Ham process, Jinnian modern process were 55.85%, 55.99%, 51.96% and 49.52%. The oxygen over standards were 0.022, 0.019, 0.010 and 0.013g/100 g, the trimethylamine nitrogen content were 0.24, 0.13, 0.14 and 0.14mg/100 g.The electronic tongue was used to analysis flavor of the ham. The result of showed that the ham produced with modern technology tastes not as good as the traditional ones, but the modern technology had an advantage in controlling ham hygienic quality index.