MEAT PRESERVATION - FOODZAQ

Hello friends, Welcome back to my bog FOODZAQ. Today I am going to share about Meat Preservation. The term meat refers to muscles, organs and glands of warm blooded animals. The main aim of meat preservation is to prevent spoilage of meat, which causes some changes in texture and flavor of meat. Consumers wants safe meat for consumption, because spoiled meat may contain disease causing micro organisms that may cause food poisoning.

Principles of meat preservation

• Prevention or delay of microbial spoilage.
• prevention or delay of self autolysis or decay.
• Prevention of mechanical damage to the meat caused by insects or handling.

METHODS OF MEAT PRESERVATION

There are a number of methods, that are used for keeping meat safe by controlling the growth of micro organisms.

Low temperature method

Low temperature preserve the food material by retarding microbial growth, enzymatic and chemical reaction that prevent the meat from spoilage. 

1. Refrigeration or chilling

This refers to preservation by lowering the temperature of meat to a point above the freezing temperature. Chilling is also done widely for short time preservation. It has no adverse effects on appearance, flavor or nutritional value. Meat carcass are normally chilled or refrigerated immediately after the slaughter at about 1C usually to avoid oxidation of fat. The chilling temperature is between -5 to -2C.

2. Freezing

Meat starts freezing at -1C. This method of preservation has its own important. because properly processed meat retain most of fresh properties for extended length of time. Freezing aims to prevent the multiplication of micro organism by converting water into ice.

Freezing occurs at different rates in different parts of the material. being frozen the rate is faster at some points on the surface. While in deeper parts of the material, there is a point at which cooling is slowest, this point is known as thermal center.

Freezing of meat can achieved by 2 methods : quick freezing and slow freezing. In quick freezing the temperature of meat is lowered to -20C with in 30 minutes. Where as in slow freezing, the required temperature is attained with in 3-12 hours. 

Thermal processing

All living things are destroyed by heat where temperature is high enough and opted for sufficient time. The micro organisms are unable to survive such environmental condition

Canning 

Canning is the preofservation method done by thermal processing. It is a process of sealing the food stuff inside a hermetically closed container and processing them by heat. Most canning process is in tin cans. Which are made up of steal or glass. Canning is the one of the softest method, in which the growth of pathogenic organisms are inhibited by application of heat energy and partial vacuum produced to retard biological and chemical degradation.

Steps of canning

1. Selection of good quality meat
2. Slicing or chopping or cutting
3. Brine preparation
4. Sterilization of can by using hot water
5. Filling of meat in to can
6. Exhausting of filled cans
7. Sealing or can closing
8. Thermal processing or heat processing
9. Can cooling
10. Labeling
11. Storage

Selection of good quality meat : cceMust should be obtained from hygienically slaughtered animals, which have both ant mortem and postmortem inspection are done properly washed to avoid further contamination.

Brine preparation : Braining process may be done in meat canning by mixing in brine at ambient temperature. Also brine solution impart flavor, tenderness and also will enhance shelf life by preservative action.

filling of meat in to can : Cans are filled with meat and brine by hand or by machine.

Exhausting : It is the method of removal of air and make vacuum condition, then micro organisms can not grow. 

Sealing of can : It is essential to close the cans without inclusion of air as soon as exhausting is completed. The success of canning is depends upon how well the can was closed. Even very minuet hole can spoil food, which will carefully prepared due to the entry of air or micro organisms.

Heat or thermal processing : Processing schedule is determined depending type of product and size of the can. Normally processing temperature is 125C for 15 minutes. The step will destroy all pathogenic organisms and inactive or destroy the micro organisms causing spoilage.

Cooling : The heat from the can as well as the pressure develop inside is reduced by cooling.

Labeling and storage : Cans are properly labelled with all detailed about date of production, batch number, net weight, ingredients, prize and the storage for completely processed can should be clean, dried and cool & stored at ambient temperature.

Drying or dehydration

Drying has the distinction of being the first and simplest method, that has been adopted for the preservation of meat. Drying refers to the removal of moisture content from the food. It is note that micro organisms and enzymes require adequate amount of water for their activity. so the shelf life is increased by removing water.

Both natural and artificial drying is available. Artificial drying is carried out by driers like cabinet dryer, tonal dryer, rotatory dryer and hot air cabinets.

Irradiation

It has been well recognize as a cost effective method of preservation of meat and meat product. Irradiation prevent the growth of micro organisms, enzymes, insects and eliminate all other toxins. It does not change in freshness and texture of food.

The ionizing radiation produces  3 types of rays namely alpha, beta and Gama. The alpha rays have high penetrating power. The non ionizing radiations like UV rays, x rays are normally do not use in food due to their low penetrating power. The amount of energy produces during irradiation is small and rise of temperature is little. So irradiation is also called cold sterilization.

FDA (Food and Drug Administration) and WHO (World Health Organization) totally approve radiate food, and irradiate food must be labelled with a statement it is treated with irradiation.

Radiation in excess dose may causes changes and increased damaged to food. Also radiation degrade carbohydrates, lipids, proteins which may results to lose of texture, color, flavor, natural anti oxidant from the food.

Guys, I hopes you should understands about preservation of meat. If you have any doubts regarding this blog, feel free to comment below. Thank you for reading my blog. Have a nice day.