Effect of Pulsed Electric Field Treatment on Cold-Boned Muscles of Different Potential Tenderness

Despite the release of several reports highlighting the potential benefits of pulsed electric field (PEF) technology in food processing, there are limited studies on the use of PEF in meat processing, in particular with fresh meat. The effect of PEF on the quality of beef loins (Musculus longissimus lumborum, LL) at 1 day postmortem and topsides (Musculus semimembranosus: SM) at 1 and 3 days postmortem was investigated using a range of treatment combinations [voltages (5 and 10 kV) and frequencies (20, 50 and 90 Hz)]. The investigated parameters were purge loss, cooking loss and meat tenderness (shear force) to identify the optimum PEF treatment conditions for each muscle to evaluate the economic (in terms of purge and cooking losses) and texture benefits of PEF treatments. The tenderness of the loin samples was found to benefit from PEF treatment (19.5 % reduction in the shear force) regardless of the electrical input, whereas the level of tenderness of the topsides was increased by increasing the treatment frequency (4.1, 10.4 and 19.1 % reduction in the shear force at 20, 50 and 90 Hz, respectively). Higher purge loss (%) and lower cooking loss (%) were found in PEF-treated samples. It is interesting to observe that the level of SM tenderness improvement was not dependent on the meat postmortem time up to 3 days which allows greater flexibility in the use of PEF technology.

[1]  Eugène Vorobiev,et al.  Estimation of characteristic damage time of food materials in pulsed-electric fields , 2002 .

[2]  A. Bekhit,et al.  Exogenous Proteases for Meat Tenderization , 2014, Critical reviews in food science and nutrition.

[3]  W. Wergin,et al.  Mechanisms of ultrastructural changes in electrically stimulated beef Longissimus muscle. , 1982, Meat science.

[4]  B. Marsh,et al.  Effects of early-postmortem glycolytic rate on beef tenderness. , 1987, Meat science.

[5]  R. G. Kauffman,et al.  Low-voltage electrical stimulation effects on proteolysis and Lamb tenderness , 2000 .

[6]  Qinghua Zhang,et al.  Engineering aspects of pulsed electric field pasteurization , 1995 .

[7]  Henry Jaeger,et al.  Food Industry Applications for Pulsed Electric Fields , 2009 .

[8]  S. Töpfl,et al.  Application of pulsed electric fields to improve mass transfer in dry cured meat products , 2007 .

[9]  J. Thompson,et al.  The impact of processing on sensory and objective measurements of sheep meat eating quality , 2005 .

[10]  S. Sathe,et al.  ROLE OF MUSCLE PROTEINASES IN MAINTENANCE OF MUSCLE INTEGRITY AND MASS , 1983 .

[11]  I. Hwang,et al.  The biochemical and physical effects of electrical stimulation on beef and sheep meat tenderness. , 2003, Meat science.

[12]  C. Valin,et al.  Effects of electrical stimulation on post-mortem changes in the activities of two Ca dependent neutral proteinases and their inhibitor in beef muscle. , 1985, Meat science.

[13]  H. J. Andersen,et al.  Water distribution and mobility in meat during the conversion of muscle to meat and ageing and the impacts on fresh meat quality attributes--a review. , 2011, Meat science.

[14]  P. Franks,et al.  Physical Interventions to Manipulate Texture and Tenderness of Fresh Meat: A Review , 2014 .

[15]  M. Gudmundsson,et al.  Effect of electric field pulses on microstructure of muscle foods and roes , 2001 .

[16]  E. Huff-Lonergan,et al.  Mechanisms of water-holding capacity of meat: The role of postmortem biochemical and structural changes. , 2005, Meat science.

[17]  J. Cheftel,et al.  Food processing by pulsed electric fields. II. Biological aspects , 1999 .

[18]  B. Marsh,et al.  Effects of 2-Hz and 60-Hz electrical stimulation on the microstructure of beef. , 1987, Meat science.

[19]  S. Töpfl,et al.  Pulsed Electric Fields (PEF) for Permeabilization of Cell Membranes in Food- and Bioprocessing – Applications, Process and Equipment Design and Cost Analysis. , 2006 .

[20]  Francesco Noci,et al.  An assessment of the effect of pulsed electrical fields on tenderness and selected quality attributes of post rigour beef muscle. , 2013, Meat science.