Abstract
The effect of superchilled storage (SC, −4 °C) on shelf life and quality characteristics of M. longissimus lumborum from Chinese Yellow cattle compared with traditional chilling (TC, 2 °C) and frozen storage (−18 °C) was studied. The shelf life of beef steaks held at −4 °C extended to 12 weeks based on the total volatile basic nitrogen (TVB-N) value, which was 2.4 times longer than steaks stored at 2 °C. As the storage time increased, SC samples showed a lower increase of the total aerobic count (TAC), pH and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) values compared to TC samples. Further, L⁎ and a⁎ values of SC samples changed more slowly than that of TC samples. Beef steaks held frozen had a longer shelf life than SC steaks, however, the shear force of frozen steaks remained above 55 N throughout the storage time indicative of toughness. Consequently, SC offers an effective approach for maintaining better shelf life and quality of beef steaks.
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