Abstract:

This study was carried out to explore the influence of combined calcium chloride and ultrasonic treatments on the color, water holding capacity (WHC), cooking loss and tenderness of beef. At 12 hours post-mortem, adult yellow cattle rump was injected with 300 mmol/L calcium chloride (5% and 10% injection amounts, as percentage of meat mass) and then treated in a 133 W/m2 ultrasonic field for two different periods of time, 6 min and 12 min. As a result, four treatment groups were generated, namely group one: 5% injection amount plus 6 min ultrasonic treatment, group two: 5% injection amount plus 12 min ultrasonic treatment, group three: 10% injection amount plus 6 min ultrasonic treatment and group four: 10% injection amount plus 12 min ultrasonic treatment. The control group did not receive any treatment. Each group was tested for its color, WHC, cooking loss and tenderness at 1 through 5 d and 7 d of aging at 4 ℃. The best improvement of color, WHC and cooking loss was achieved after 10% calcium chloride injection followed by 6 min ultrasonic treatment. Combination of 5% calcium chloride injection with 12 min ultrasonic treatment had the best improvement on beef color, WHC and cooking loss, and resulted in a decrease in tenderness by 28.41%. These results demonstrate that combination of calcium chloride injection with ultrasonic treatment can notably improve beef quality.

Key words: beef, ultrasonic, calcium chloride, color, WHC, cooking loss, tenderness