DETERMINATION OF FREEZABLE WATER-CONTENT OF BEEF SEMIMEMBRANOUS MUSCLE DSC STUDY

The freezable water contents of samples obtained from previously chill ed semimembranous muscle of middle-aged beef carcasses after a 24 h co oling period a room at in 5+/-1 degrees C were determined by different ial scanning calorimetry (DSC) at -5, -10, -15, -20, -30, -40, -50 and -65 degrees C. This was accomplished by freezing the samples at the a bove-mentioned temperatures, followed by thawing to 35 degrees C, and measuring the melting peaks of freezable water. The areas of these pea ks were determined by using the peak integration method programs throu gh a computer linked to the DSC, and they were then used to determine the latent heat of melting (Delta H-m) in kJ kg(-1) at each freezing t emperature. The resultant latent heat of melting per sample was divide d by the latent heat for pure water to determine the amount of freezab le water present in these samples. This amount of freezable water was divided by the total water content of the meat sample to determine the percentage of freezable water in the sample. The percentage of freeza ble water was subtracted from 100 to determine the percentage of bound water present in the sample.