THE CHILLED STORAGE LIFE AND RETAIL DISPLAY PERFORMANCE OF VACUUM ANDCARBON-DIOXIDE PACKED HOT DEBONED BEEF STRIPLOINS

Two cooling regimes that complied with the New Zealand meat hygiene re quirement that hot deboned meat be chilled to +7 degrees C or less wit hin 24 hr of leaving the slaughter floor were evaluated for the produc tion of chilled table meats. Electrically stimulated hot deboned bull beef half striploins were either vacuum or carbon dioxide packed befor e being cooled in accordance with ether Regime 1 (cool at +5 degrees C for 24 hr, transfer to chiller operating at -1.0+/-0.5 degrees C) or Regime 2 (cool at +5 degrees C for 24 hr, hold at 5 degrees C for 6 da ys, transfer to chiller operating at -1.0+/-0.5 degrees C). Striploins were removed from -1.0 degrees C storage 8, 28, 42, 56, 70, 84 and 98 days after slaughter and subjected to microbiological, tenderness, se nsory and retail display performance evaluations. Both Regimes 1 and 2 produced meat of acceptable mean tenderness, 8 kgF (MIRINZ Tenderomet er) in either vacuum or carbon dioxide packs within 28 and 8 days of s laughter, respectively. However, 70 days after slaughter the first st signs of over-ageing became apparent. Steaks from Regimes 1 and 2 main tained acceptable visual appearance during retail display at 5 degrees C for 48 hr and 24 hr, respectively. After these times, the product w as judged by the panel to be unacceptable because of its dull dark lea n tissue and grey to green discoloration of the fat. Poor colour stabi lity during retail display was mirrored by deterioration of sensory at tributes, particularly aroma which is indicative of incipient spoilage . While carbon dioxide packaging in combination with Regime 1 offered an initial microbiological advantage over vacuum packaging, this advan tage was not, however, carried over into retail display. Poor colour a nd sensory stability during retail display suggest that chilled table cuts derived from hot deboned bull beef are more suited to the Hotel-R estaurant-Institutional (HRI) trade than supermarket retailing. To ser ve the HRI, vacuum packed hot deboned bull beef primal cuts processed by Regime 1 appear to be the combination of choice. This combination w ould enable commercial processors to produce quality table beef with a chilled storage life of up to 70 days. (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd.