earticle

영어

Pre-rigor bovine sternomandibularis muscles were frozen at 3 hr postmortem thawed at various temperatures (18, 2, and -2℃), and then meat quality and sensory properties were compared with those in chilled muscle (control). The meat thawed at had lower ultimate pH, water holding capacity, and sensory scores and higher muscle shortening, thaw drip loss, and shear values than those of the other samples. The samples thawed at -2℃ had significantly lower muscle shortening and higher sensory scores in tenderness and juiciness than those thawed at 18 and 2℃. Muscle shortening, pH, WHC, shear values, and sensory properties were not significantly different between control and sample thawed at -2℃. By holding at -2℃, thaw shortening was prevented and tender meat comparable to the chilled meat was obtained. These results indicate that thaw shortening can be largely eliminated if the frozen pre-rigor muscle is thawed at -2℃.