Salting of meat products is often accelerated by using a continuous vacuum salting-tumbling process. The pulsed vacuum brining (PVB) process involves plunging a food product into a concentrated salt solution followed by an alternation of cycles under partial vacuum and then atmospheric pressure conditions. The effects of key vacuum cycle variables on mass transport were studied by PVB of turkey meat in different concentrated sodium chloride solutions. PVB led to a product that was more salted and less dehydrated than products brined under atmospheric pressure brining conditions, thus boosting mass yields. Food products obtained by PVB have a more uniform salt and water distribution from the surface to the core. This study demonstrated that the number of vacuum cycles, processing with a long vacuum phase under a low residual pressure and a shorter atmospheric pressure phase enhanced the effects of PVB on mass transfers (increased salt gain, decreased water loss, thus increasing mass yields). (C) 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.