imental er Fo p o x d E C f Journal of Experimental Food h o e l m a n i Pal et al., J Exp Food Chem 2018, 4:1 s r t u r y o J Chemistry DOI: 10.4172/2472-0542.1000134 ISSN: 2472-0542 Review Article Open Access Application of Various Techniques for Meat Preservation Mahendra Pal1* and Mridula Devrani2 1Narayan Consultancy on Veterinary Public Health, 4 Aangan, Jagnath Ganesh Dairy Road, Anand-38001, India 2Bansi Bungalows, Karamsad Road, V.V. Nagar, Anand, India *Corresponding author: Mahendra Pal, Narayan Consultancy on Veterinary Public Health and Microbiology, 4 Aangan, Jagnath Ganesh Dairy Road, Anand-388001, Gujarat, India, E-mail: [email protected] Received date: December 11, 2017; Accepted date: January 12, 2018; Published date: January 20, 2018 Copyright: ©2018 Pal M, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Abstract Since the pre-historic times, meat is consumed by humans as part of diet. Meat is an animal flesh that is considered as an excellent source of high biological value protein, zinc, iron, magnesium, selenium, phosphorus, and vitamins. In recent years, global meat production and consumption have increased. The production of meat in the world was estimated at 317.17 million tons in 2016. Meat is very much susceptible to spoilage due to chemical and enzymatic activities.The breakdown of fat, protein, and carbohydrates of meat result in the development of off- odors, off-flavor and slim formation, which make the meat objectionable for the human consumption. Several factors such as moisture, light, microbes, atmospheric oxygen, temperature, and endogenous enzymes influence the freshness and shelf life of meat. Microbes are ubiquitous in distribution and can reach the meat from different sources thus causing its spoilage. Therefore, various technologies are used to preserve the meat in order to inactivate/destroy the microbes, which are implicated in foodborne infections. Canned food stored in cool and dry place can last up to a year. Since preservation of meat by irradiation requires heavy investment, its commercial application is still in its infancy. It is emphasized that preservation of meat is imperative to prevent the occurrence of deteriorative changes brought by microbial, chemical and physical process. Further, well preserved meat can give protection against all hazards for a considerable time. Keywords: Foodborne illness; Meat; Microbes; Preservation; include handling and loading of animals on the farm, transporting Pressure processing; Spoilage; Technologies animals to slaughterhouses, off-loading and holding of animals and slaughtering of animals. Poor operational techniques and facilities in Introduction any of these operations will result in unnecessary suffering and injuries to animals, which can lead to loss of meat, reduced meat quality and Food, which contains essential nutrients, such as fats, proteins, spoilage of meat. Therefore, the prevention of contamination during carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals, is the most indispensable part meat cutting and processing is very essential [5]. Storage time can be of human life. It is the basic necessity without which the survival of extended through hygienic slaughtering and clean handling of the living beings is not feasible. Food is an edible substance of plant or carcass [6]. Due to nearly neutral pH, high moisture content and rich animal origin, which is consumed to maintain life, provide energy and nutrients, it is highly prone to contamination by microorganisms, promote growth [1]. Among all the industries in the world, food which makes the preservation of meat more difficult than most other industry is the most prominent and fastest growing enterprise. In foods. The principle of preservation is to create unfavorable conditions India, meat production was estimated 7.0 million tons in 2015-2016. for the growth of microorganisms, which result spoilage of food. Due Various technologies are being developed in order to meet the ever to spoilage, the texture, flavor and nutritive value of meat are altered increasing demand of food due to population growth. Since ancient and thereby, rendering it inedible for human use. Unless proper times, humans have employed several methods for preserving the food, preservation methods are adopted, deterioration, microbial activity, so that they can store it to eat later on [1]. The canning of vinegar was enzymatic and chemical reactions along with physical changes is introduced in 1782 and the preservation of food by canning was bound to occur. However, once meat is contaminated with patented by Nicolas Appert, a French Chemist. Later in 1837, Louis microorganisms, their removal is difficult. Hence, preservation of meat Pasteur, a French Scientist, used heat for the first time to destroy is done by various preserving techniques such as chilling/refrigeration, undesirable organisms in bear and wine. The use of sodium benzoate freezing, curing, smoking, thermal processing, canning, dehydration, as a preservative in certain foods was given official sanction by USA in irradiation, chemicals and pressure processing [1,2,7-12]. This 1980. In the year 1990, the application of irradiation of the poultry was communication is an attempt to present an overview of various approved in the United States [2]. methods employed for the preservation of meat throughout the world. Meat primarily obtained from herbivorous animals, such as cattle, buffaloes, goats, sheep, camels, horses, is widely consumed by people of Preservation of Meat developed as well as developing nations [3]. Rich nutrient matrix meat Meat preservation became essential for transportation of meat for is the first-choice source of animal protein for many people all over the long distances without spoiling of texture, color and nutritional value world [4]. According to the American Heart Association, the daily after the development and rapid growth of super markets [13]. consumption of meat should be limited to six ounces [1]. The Traditional methods of meat preservation such as drying, smoking, transformation of animals into meat involves several operations, which J Exp Food Chem, an open access journal Volume 4 • Issue 1 • 1000134 ISSN:2472-0542 Citation: Pal M, Devrani M (2018) Application of Various Techniques for Meat Preservation. J Exp Food Chem 4: 134. doi: 10.4172/2472-0542.1000134 Page 2 of 6 brining, fermentation, refrigeration and canning have been replaced by The most significant advantage of freezing is the retention of most of new preservation techniques such as chemical, bio-preservative and the nutritive value of meat during storage, with a very little loss of non-thermal techniques [12]. The aims of preservation methods are to nutrients occurring in the drip during thawing process. It is important inhibit the microbial spoilage and also to minimize the oxidation and to wrap fresh meat in suitable packaging film before freezing otherwise enzymatic spoilage. Current meat preservation methods are broadly meat undergoes freeze burn. This abnormal condition occurs due to categorized into three methods (a) controlling temperature (b) progressive surface dehydration resulting in the concentration of meat controlling water activity (c) use of chemical or bio-preservatives [12]. pigments on the surface. A combination of these preservation techniques can be used to The quality of frozen meat is also influenced by its freezing rate. In diminish the process of spoilage [14]. slow freezing, there is formation of large ice crystals, which may cause The preservation of food has several objectives [1]. physical damage to muscular tissue, giving it distorted appearance in the frozen state. In fast freezing, numerous small ice crystals are 1. To control foodborne infections and intoxications formed uniformly throughout the meat tissue. The freezing rate is 2. To ensure the safety of food from microbes increased with decreases in temperature, almost 98% of water freezes 3. To prevent the spoilage of food at -20°C and complete crystal formation occurs at 65°C [17]. Thus, 4. To extend the shelf life of food problem of muscle fiber shrinkage and distorted appearance is not 5. To enhance the keeping quality of food there in meat tissue. The drip losses during thawing are considerably 6. To reduce financial losses low as water freezes within the muscle fiber itself. Numerous small ice crystals on the surface of the fast frozen meat are also important as Chilling/refrigeration they give a desirable light color as compared to slow frozen meat. Microbial growth stops at -12°C and total inhibition of the cellular This is the most widely used method of preservation for short term metabolism in animal tissues occurs below -18°C [18]. However, storage of meat as chilling/refrigeration slows or limit the spoilage rate enzymatic reactions, oxidative rancidity and ice crystallization will still at temperature below the optimal range can inhibit the microbial play an important part in spoilage [12]. During freezing, about 60% of growth [7], enzymatic as well as chemical reactions [1,7]. Storage of the viable microbial population dies but the remaining population fresh meat is done at a refrigeration temperature of 2 to 5°C. Chilling is gradually increases during frozen storage [19]. critical for meat hygiene, safety, shelf life, appearance and nutritional quality [7,12]. Carcasses are first hanged in chilled coolers (15°C) to Curing remove their body heat, and are then passed on to holding coolers (5°C). It is essential to maintain proper spacing between carcasses so as Sodium chloride, sodium nitrate, sodium nitrite and sugar are main to allow throughout air circulation. It is employed by two methods: (a) curing ingredients. Various methods of curing are practiced in India, immersion chilling, in which the product is immersed in chilled (4°C) such as dry cure, pickle cure, injection cure, direct cure etc. water and (b) air chilling, in which the carcasses are misted with water Preservation of meat by heavy salting is an old age practice.