A meat quality control process

摘要

Disclosed is a method of extending the shelf life of meat and optimising meat quality by a combination of fast freezing, then thawing and then aging include the production of chilled meat quality meat with the advantage of long term storage possible via freezing. The method includes the steps of: (a) obtaining a piece or pieces of meat; (b) fast freezing the meat; (c) storing the meat in a frozen form for a period of time; (d) thawing the frozen meat; and (e) aging the thawed meat for over 24 hours at a temperature over−2°C and below 2°C. The meat piece produced by the method either exhibits a histology showing intracellular cryo−damage; and the meat piece has less than or equal to 30% extracellular cell damage; or the meat piece produced by the method exhibits one or more varied metabolite concentrations compared to meat that has (a) only been chilled and aged and (b) meat that has been slow frozen and thawed; and wherein the meat has less than or equal to 30% extracellular cell damage. The fast freezing step (b) is completed via liquid immersion or deluge and excludes nitrogen as a cooling agent. The meat can be packaged prior to step (b) or step (c). The meat piece or pieces are fast frozen in step (b) within 6−72 hours post slaughter, the rate of freezing in step (b) being sufficiently fast to prevent and/or minimise the formation of extracellular ice crystals. No single or combination of extracellular ice crystals is larger than 50% of the size of a cell within the meat or larger than 0.1mm. The internal meat temperature is around−18°C within 12 hours.