Some Problems of Food Preservation

Abstract

THE problems involved in the freezing, storage and transport of New Zealand lamb have recently been examined by the Food Investigation Board, in co-operation with the Empire Marketing Board, the New Zealand Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, the New Zealand Meat Producers' Board and the New Zealand Tonnage Committee representing the shipping lines trading between Great Britain and New Zealand.1 The investigation involved an analysis of the physical conditions in the various storage chambers through which the meat passed and an examination of the effects of the environment on the quality and appearance of thecarcases, asestimated from the loss of ‘bloom’. Bloom is the freshly-killed appearance of the meat and is dependent upon the appearance of the superficial tissues, the exposed muscle, fat and connective tissue. It is affected by the following factors: the rate of cooling and freezing, which determines the opacity of the superficial connective tissue and, indirectly, the colour of the visible muscle; the amount of drying, excessive desiccation producing marked loss of colour in the muscle; the formation of methsemoglobin from haemoglobin on prolonged storage, that conversion being hastened by sweating; and finally, excessive sweating, which also results in swelling of the connective tissue fibres with increase in their cpacity.