Effects of Combined Treatment of Antifreeze Agent and Immersion Freezing on Quality of Prepared Beef Steaks during Frozen Storage

The purpose of this study was to clarify the effect of the combination of antifreeze and immersion freezing on the quality of frozen prepared beef steaks. Four groups were set up: ⅰ) control group, vacuum packaging before frozen storage; ⅱ) antifreeze group, incorporation of antifreeze during tumbling vacuum; ⅲ) immersion freezing group; and ⅳ) antifreeze + immersion freezing group. Beef steaks were frozen at -30 ℃ for up to 90 days. The thawing loss, juice loss, cooking loss, texture characteristics, shear force, color and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) value were measured after 0, 30, 60 and 90 days, and the microstructure was observed. The results showed that compared with the other treatment groups, the thawing loss, juice loss, cooking loss and TBARS value were significantly decreased in the antifreeze + immersion freezing group. In addition, for the combined treatment group, the brightness and redness values were higher, and muscle fiber arrangement was orderly and tightest among the four groups. Conclusion: The combination of immersion freezing and antifreeze can not only make the tissue structure of prepared beef steaks more compact to maintain better water retention capacity, but also keep its color stability.