Impiego della marinatura per la valorizzazione delle carni di coniglio

A study was conducted to determine the effects of marination use and marination solutions (containing sodium tripolyphosphate, sodium carbonate or sodium bicarbonate) on rabbit meat quality traits. The pH, colour (L*a*b*), drip losses, cooking losses and shear force were measured on a total of 48 L. lumborum muscles. Irrespective of the type of solution, marination allowed to reduce cooking loss (18.4 vs. 20.0%; P<0.05), by increasing its pH, and tenderize loin rabbit meat by about 25% (shear force: 1.37 vs. 1.83 kg/g; P<0.01). Among marination ingredients, sodium carbonate and bicarbonate showed an higher alkalinisation effect in respect to sodium tripolyphosphate; however colour traits, water holding capacity and shear force of meat were not different among treatments. In conclusion, this study showed that marination can be profitably used in rabbit meat to prepare further processed products and sodium carbonate and bicarbonate can be used as alternative to phosphates.