Date of Award
5-2022
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science (MS)
Department
Food, Nutrition, and Culinary Science
Committee Chair/Advisor
Dr. Paul Dawson
Committee Member
Dr. Julie Northcutt
Committee Member
Dr. Margaret Condrasky
Abstract
Maintaining meat quality during cold temperature storage is an important goal for increasing consumer satisfaction and reducing food waste. Following a literature review on the importance of cold meat storage, a study was conducted as a part of Electrolux refrigerator research and development. Chicken breast and beef sirloin filets were stored at -2°C, -5°C, and -18°C and monitored for quality changes over a 7-day period. Temperature fluctuations and relative humidity data were monitored automatically by sensors. Meat quality was evaluated by measuring water activity, moisture content, pH, colorimetry, sensory, and drip loss. Microbial plate counts were used to monitor the safety of the samples. Further experimentation based on initial quality results included observing the impact of different cooking methods as measured by cook loss and sensory evaluation. Trends in acceptability were difficult to correlate with storage temperatures and cooking method due to a limited sensory group size. Storing meat at -2°C was the best at preserving quality for both chicken breasts and beef sirloin for both phases of experimentation.
Recommended Citation
Richardson, Jillian Reid, "Effect of Refrigerated Storage on Meat Quality" (2022). All Theses. 3783.
https://open.clemson.edu/all_theses/3783