FOOD SCIENCE ›› 2025, Vol. 46 ›› Issue (18): 291-257.doi: 10.7506/spkx1002-6630-20250218-076

• Packaging & Storage • Previous Articles    

Effect of Ultra-Rapid Prerigor Freezing on Tenderness of Beef Longissimus dorsi during Storage

WANG Huizhen, LI Jiqiang, ZHU Lixian, MAO Yanwei, LIANG Rongrong, FENG Yuanshun, HAO Jiangang, ZHANG Xinjun, ZHANG Yimin   

  1. (1. Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Quality Safety Monitoring for Animal Products and Veterinary Drug Innovation, International Joint Research Lab (China and Greece) of Digital Transformation as an Enabler for Food Safety and Sustainability, College of Food Science and Engineering, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai’an 271018, China; 2. Yangxin Huasheng Halal Meat Co., Ltd., Binzhou 256600, China; 3. National Beef Cattle Industrial Technology System, Ulagai Station, Ulagai 026321, China; 4. National Beef Cattle Industrial Technology System, Zhongwei Station, Zhongwei 755000, China)
  • Published:2025-08-19

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Abstract: To investigate the effect of ultra-fast prerigor freezing on beef quality, beef was subjected to conventional chilling (CC, chilling at 4 ℃), ultra-fast chilling (UFC, chilling at –30 ℃ until the internal temperature dropped to 12 ℃) or ultra-fast freezing (UFF, freezing at –30 ℃ until the internal temperature dropped to –10 ℃) and then stored at (0 ± 2) ℃ until 24 h postmortem. Beef tenderness, water-holding capacity (WHC) and other quality characteristics were measured. The results showed that UFF was more effective in improving beef tenderness during storage when compared with CC and UFC. UFF maintained a higher pH environment by slowing down the decrease in pH, thereby promoting the early degradation of myofibrillar proteins (desmin, troponin-T, and μ-calpain), disrupting myofiber structure, and resulting in elevated myofibril fragmentation index (MFI). These changes had a positive effect in improving muscle tenderness. Meanwhile, UFF reduced the cooking loss but increased the storage loss of beef. Overall, prerigor UFF treatment can improve the tenderness of beef.

Key words: beef; ultra-fast freezing; tenderness; microstructure; meat quality

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