Based on the work of the internationally-renowned Food Refrigeration and Process Engineering Centre (FRPERC), Meat Refrigeration provides an authoritative guide both to the impact of refrigeration on meat and best practice in using it to maximise meat quality for the consumer.
Part 1 considers the impact of refrigeration on meat quality. There are chapters on the microbiology of refrigerated meat and its influence on shelf-life, drip production, weight loss and the effect of refrigeration on colour and texture.
Part 2 looks at best practice in managing the cold chain from carcass to consumer. The authors discuss primary chilling, freezing, thawing and tempering, transport, storage, retail display and consumer handing.
Part 3 of the book looks at aspects of process control, including chapters on such issues as temperature measurement, the design and optimal use of refrigeration systems.
Both authoritative and practical, Meat Refrigeration will be a standard work for all those wishing to maximize the quality of refrigerated meat.
Contents
Part 1: Refrigeration and meat quality
Chapter 1: The microbiology of refrigerated meat
- Factors effecting the refrigerated shelf life of meat
- Initial Microbial Levels
- Temperature
- Relative Humidity
- Other considerations
- Bone Taint
- Cold deboning
- Hot deboning
- Conclusions
- References
Chapter 2: Drip production in meat refrigeration
- Biochemistry of Meat
- The structure of muscle
- Changes after slaughter
- Water relationships in meat
- Ice formation in muscle tissues
- Measurement of drip
- Factors affecting the amount of drip
- Animal Factors
- Refrigeration factors
- Chilled Storage
- Conclusions
- References
Chapter 3: The effect of refrigeration on the texture of meat
- Muscle shortening
- Development of conditioning (ageing)
- Influence of chilling on texture
- Influence of freezing on texture
- Influence of thawing on texture
- Conclusions
- References
Chapter 4: Colour changes in meat refrigeration
- Meat Colour
- Factors affecting the colour of meat
- Live animal
- Chilling
- Conditioning
- Chilled storage
- Freezing
- Frozen Storage
- Thawing
- Retail display
- Conclusions
- References
Chapter 5: Weight loss in meat refrigeration
- Theoretical considerations
- Weight loss in practice
- Chilling
- Chilled storage
- Freezing and frozen storage
- Retail display
- Overall
- Conclusions
- References
Part 2: The cold chain from carcass to consumer
Chapter 6: Primary chilling
- Introduction
- Conventional chilling
- Beef
- Lamb, mutton and goat chilling
- Pork
- Chilling of offal
- Novel systems with future potential
- Accelerated chilling systems
- Spray chilling
- Immersion chilling
- Ice bank chilling
- Combined systems
- Protective coatings
- Hot boning
- Conclusions
- References
Chapter 7: Freezing of meat and meat products
- Freezing rate
- Freezing systems
- Contact freezers
- Cryogenic
- Freezing of specific products
- Tempering and crust freezing
- Conclusions
- References
Chapter 8: Thawing and tempering
- Considerations
- Quality and microbiological considerations
- Thawing systems
- Conduction
- Electrical methods
- Published thawing data for different meat cuts
- Commercial practice
- Tempering
- Requirements for cutting and processing equipment
- Requirements for pre-breaking
- Microwave tempering
- Commercial practice
- Conclusions
- References
Chapter 9: Refrigerated transportation
- Sea transportation
- Air transport
- Overland transport
- Types of refrigeration system
- Observations of transport
- Problems particular to local delivery vehicles
- Design and operation of local distribution vehicles
- Changes during transportation
- Conclusions
- References
Chapter 10: Chilled and frozen storage
- Storage life terms
- Chilled storage
- Unwrapped meat
- Wrapped meat
- Cooked products
- Frozen storage
- Oxidative rancidity
- Pre-freezing treatment
- The freezing process
- During frozen storage
- Types of storage room
- Bulk storage rooms
- Controlled atmosphere storage rooms
- Jacketed cold stores
- Conclusions
- References
Chapter 11: Chilled and frozen retail display
- Chilled display of wrapped meat and meat products
- Factors affecting display life
- Layout of chilled cabinet
- Air curtain
- Cabinet development
- Computer modelling
- Store conditions
- Retail display of unwrapped meat and delicatessen products
- Types of cabinet
- Appearance changes
- Effects of environmental conditions
- Retail display of frozen wrapped meats
- Factors controlling display life
- Overall cabinet design
- Air circulation and temperatures
- Effect of doors and lids
- Effect of radiant heat
- Measurement methods
- Conclusions
- References
Chapter 12: Consumer handling
- Consumer attitudes to food poisoning
- Shopping habits and transport from retail store to the home
- Refrigerated storage in the home
- Temperatures in domestic food storage
- Performance testing of domestic refrigerators
- Performance testing of domestic freezers
- Conclusions
- References
Part 3: Process control
Chapter 13: The thermophysical properties of meat
- Chilling
- Thermal conductivity
- Specific heat
- Enthalpies
- Freezing, thawing and tempering
- Ice content
- Heat extraction
- Thermal conductivity
- Density
- Mathematical models
- Conclusions
- References
Chapter 14: Temperature measurement
- Instrumentation
- Hand held digital thermometers
- Temperature recorders
- Time temperature indicators
- Calibration
- Measuring temperature data
- Contact non-destructive methods
- Non-contact non-destructive methods
- Contact destructive methods
- Storage
- Distribution
- Retail
- Interpreting temperature data
- Conclusions
- References
Chapter 15: Specifying, designing and optimising refrigeration systems
- Process specification
- Throughput
- Temperature requirements
- Weight loss
- Future use
- Plant layout
- The engineering specification
- Environmental conditions
- Room size
- Refrigeration loads
- Refrigeration plant capacity
- Relative humidities
- Ambient design conditions
- Defrosts
- Engineering design summary
- Procurement
- Optimisation
- Conclusions
- References
Chapter 16: Secondary chiling of meat and meat products
- Cooked meat
- Legislation
- Practical
- Experimental studies
- Pastry products
- Commercial operations
- Experimental studies
- Solid/liquid mixtures
- Process cooling
- Cook-chill
- Cook-chill guidelines
- Practical cooling time data
- Refrigeration problems in practice
- Conclusions
- References
Index
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