Spray chilling of deer carcasses--effects on carcass weight, meat moisture content, purge and microbiological quality.
Twenty red deer carcasses were included in the study. Two treatments were applied to the carcasses; control (air chilling) and spray chilling (n=10 for each treatment). Carcass weight and temperature change were registered during over-night chilling. Meat moisture content was measured in the shoulder, loin, flap and leg before and after the chilling treatments; purge, cooking loss and tenderness were measured in loin samples stored at -1.5 °C for 3 and 9 weeks. Microbiological status was assessed on swabs taken at the lumbar end of the loin before and after the chilling treatments. Spray chilling reduced carcass weight loss significantly; air chilled and spray chilled carcasses lost 1 kg and less than 0.01 kg, respectively. No effects of spray chilling on tenderness, purge and cooking loss were found. Bacterial levels were low in general even after 9 weeks of vacuum packaged chilled storage.
Wiklund
E
E
AgResearch Limited, Food, Metabolism & Microbiology, Ruakura Research Centre, Private Bag 3123, Hamilton, New Zealand. eva@sapmi.se
Kemp
R M
RM
leRoux
G J
GJ
Li
Y
Y
Wu
G
G
D000818:Animals; D001835:Body Weight; D003080:Cold Temperature; D003670:Deer; D005516:Food Microbiology; D005519:Food Preservation / Q000379:methods*; D005524:Food Technology; D008460:Meat / Q000032:analysis* / Q000382:microbiology; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal; D014867:Water / Q000032:analysis*
D014867:Water