The Storage and Preservation of Meat: I-Thermal Technologies

Raw meat is one of the most shelf-unstable food materials due to its abundance in nutrients ideally suited for microorganisms. Because most spoilage bacteria are mesophilic, temperature control to below or above their optimum growth condition is essential to meat quality protection. While low-temperature preservation (refrigeration and freezing) is effective to retard microbial growth and proliferation, heat treatments (pasteurization and sterilization) have also been used to inactivate both pathogenic and spoilage microbes. Apart from delayed microbial growth, biochemical and chemical reactions occur during postmortem storage of fresh meat, and several endogenous proteolytic enzymes are involved in the aging-induced changes in meat tenderness and flavor. Unwanted textural changes also occur in frozen meat. Of the various available preservation techniques for fresh and cooked meat, temperature control remains the most effective and "green" method, or a main component in "hurdle technology," to achieve the purpose.