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Studies on frozen beef^*

Swift and Company

Abstract

This paper reports experiments wherein beef was frozen at practical freezing temperatures ranging from +20° F. to -50° F., then thawed for the purpose of studying the effect of the freezing temperature on the amount of drip that exudes from the frozen product upon being defrosted.

The data show that irrespective of freezing temperature, drip was negligible in beef rib cuts (average weight 23.26 pounds) where the area of cut surface was small in relation to the volume of meat whereas in rib steaks (average weight 0.475 pounds) where the area of cut surface was large in relation to volume of meat the amount of drip was dependent to a large extent on the freezing temperature. In large cuts the muscle tissue has opportunity to reabsorb the "frozen out" water while in small cuts the fluids may be more readily lost by the tissues as drip.

When small steaks are fast frozen intrafiber freezing occurs and when defrosted the fluids will for the most part be retained by the fibers and the drip will be relatively small. If the steaks are slowly frozen, ex-trafiber freezing takes place and upon being defrosted more of the fluid will be lost as drip before it can be reabsorbed by the partially dehydrated muscle fibers.

Photomicrographs show that other factors being equal the temperature of freezing materially affects the structural appearance of the frozen muscle tissue, but that regardless of the temperature of freezing, the structural appearance of the defrosted muscle tissue is quite similar to that of unfrozen muscle tissue.

^* The complete paper will appear in Food Research.