Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences (Dec 2017)

Assessment of frozen storage duration effect on quality characteristics of various horse muscles

  • Pil Nam Seong,
  • Hyun Woo Seo,
  • Jin-Hyoung Kim,
  • Geun Ho Kang,
  • Soo-Hyun Cho,
  • Hyun Seok Chae,
  • Beom Young Park,
  • Hoa Van Ba

DOI
https://doi.org/10.5713/ajas.17.0039
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 30, no. 12
pp. 1756 – 1763

Abstract

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Objective The study aimed at assessing the effects of frozen storage duration on quality characteristics, lipid oxidation and sensory quality of various horse muscles. Methods Five representative muscles: longissimus dorsi (LD), gluteus medius (GM), semimembranosus (SM), biceps femoris (BF), and triceps brachii (TB) at 24 h post-mortem obtained from 28-mo-old Jeju female breed horses (n = 8) were used in the present investigation. The muscles were vacuum-packaged and frozen at −20°C for 120, 240, and 360 days. All the samples were analyzed for thawing and cooking losses, pH, Warner–Bratzler shear forces (WBSF), color traits, total volatile basic nitrogen (TVBN), thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) and sensory traits. The muscle samples analyzed on day 0 of frozen storage (fresh, non-frozen) were used for comparison. Results Results revealed that thawing and cooking losses significantly (p<0.05) increased in all the muscles after 120 days and then remained unchanged up to 360 days of frozen storage. The TBARS and TVBN contents significantly increased as increasing frozen storage time up to 360 days (p<0.05). While, significant decreases in WBSF values were observed for all the muscles with increased frozen storage time (p<0.05). Frozen storage variously affected the color traits of the muscles for instance; the redness of LD, GM, and BF muscles showed a decreasing tendency during frozen storage while it was not changed in TB and SM muscles. Furthermore, the frozen storage did not produce detrimental effects on sensory quality as it did not cause flavor and juiciness defects whereas it partially improved the tenderness of all the muscles studied. Conclusion Based on the results obtained from our work, it is concluded that frozen storage could be applied to increase the long-term shelf life of horsemeat while still retaining its sensory quality.

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