Abstract
Dry salting is the traditional technique used in meat products with anatomical integrity, such as ham or loin. An accurate control of dry salting results specially complex in the dry-cured ham industry because of the high heterogeneity of the ham (e.g. pH, weight, moisture and fat content) and the effect of the different operational variables (e.g. temperature and relative humidity) that control the diffusion process. That is why the meat industry demands non-destructive quality control techniques for monitoring the dry salting process. Ultrasonic measurements are quick, can be performed on-line and used for quality control purposes in the production lines.
