Efeito do congelamento prévio à maturação na maciez e cor da carne de tourinho Nelore e Aberdeen Angus

Abstract

This paper aims to assess the freezing prior to the aged on the tenderness and coloration of bovine animal´s meat on the Nelore and Aberdeen Angus breed. Samples of the muscles were submitted to two processing: conventional aged and freezing (-20 °C for 40 days) straight to defrosting and periods of aged. The meats were assessed after 0, 7, 14 and 21 days of aged (1 °C). The freezing increased ( P < 0.05) the purge and the losses of total exutade during all aged and, although favoring the proteolysis during the aged in meats of both breeds, the reduction of shear force was noted (P<0.05) only in the Aberdeen Angus`s meat and only at time zero. The freezing also supported (P<0.05) the formation of metmyoglobin in the meats during the aged, specially in the Nelore`s meat. The frozen meats showed lower lightness (L*) and higher (P<0.05) values in the redness (a*), yellowness (b*), chroma (C*) and tone (h*) in the first days of storage, deteriorating fastly during the aged. However, in the 21st day on aged, the color indices L*, a* and C* of the frozen meats were similar to the not frozen in time zero of aged. Nelore´s meat show higher (P<0.05) losses of exudate and lower sarcomere length, being less stable to freezing and having a lighter color and more yellowish and less intense than Aberdeen Angus animals. The results suggest that the freezing prior to the aged can be an alternative to solve the problem of inconsistency in meat tenderness, but the color stability of the vacuum packed meat is reduced, being this effects animal genotype dependent.