Work

A novel approach to improve the quality of beef Longissimus lumborum frozen under electromagnetic-assisted freezing

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: The objective was to determine the effect of electromagnetic field (EM) assisted freezing on thawing yield, shelf-life, and tenderness of beef striploins. Both striploins were collected from 12 USDA Choice carcasses, halved (N = 48), weighed, and probed. Striploin halves were randomly assigned to 0, 2, 4, or 8 kV EM and frozen under designated treatments in a walk-in freezer (-20 °C) for 24 h. Following freezing, frozen cores were taken for ice crystal size analysis, and halves were thawed, weighed, fabricated into steaks, and subjected to 10-day display. Swabs and purge were collected for aerobic plate count. Representative steaks were analyzed for instrumental and descriptive color measurements, muscle fiber spacing, Warner-Bratzler Shear Force (WBSF), purge and cooking loss, proximate analysis, lipid oxidation, antioxidant capacity, proteolysis, pH, and free calcium concentration. The 4 and 8 kV samples took longer to reach the targeted temperature than those from lower voltage and control (P < 0.05), but only 8 kV samples had lower purge loss (P < 0.01). The 4 kV samples showed the least discoloration and highest a*, b*, and hydrophilic antioxidant capacity (P < 0.01). Proteolysis was lower in higher voltage treatments, and EM-treated samples showed higher free calcium concentration compared to control (P < 0.01). No differences were observed in other measurements mentioned above (P > 0.05). Although the improvements in reducing post-thaw purge loss at 8 kV and enhancing color stability at 4 kV are statistically significant but numerically small, the overall potential impact may be substantial when considered for commercial applications.

Source: Meat Science

DOI: 10.1016/j.meatsci.2025.109992