The vacuum cooling of cooked meats is described in this paper. Based on the energy and mass balance, a modified mathematical model based on a previous model is developed to analyze the performance of the vacuum cooler and the evaporation-boiling phenomena during vacuum cooling of cooked meat. Validation experimentation is performed in the designed vacuum cooler. Boiling occurs inside the cooked meat. There is a boiling front, and the boiling front moves toward the center of the cooked meat as the vacuum cooling proceeds. The experimental data are compared with the simulation results. It is found that the differences of the temperature between the simulation and the experimentation are within 5 degrees C, and the deviation of weight loss between the simulation and the experimentation is within 4%. The simulation results agree with the experimental data well. The modified model can be used to predict the variation of the vacuum pressure in the chamber, the temperature and pressure distributions and the weight loss profiles of cylindrical cooked meats. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.