Effect of packaging, freezing and thawing of ground beef on the quality of beef patties

Retail stores often offer discounts on purchases of large amounts of meat. Some of the meat is prepared the same day, and some is stored for later use. This study evaluates the effect of retail packaging, freezing and thawing on the quality of beef patties. Loosely ground beef was retail-packed in: (1) highly permeable wrap, and (2) high oxygen MAP. The meat was subsequently refrigerated at 4°C and frozen early (wrap = 10 hours, MAP = 2 days) and late (wrap = 24 hours, MAP = 7 days) in the shelf-life. After storage (-18°C), the meat was thawed on the kitchen counter (10 hours), in the refrigerator (24 hours) or in a microwave oven (300W). Patties were formed (125g), tempered (approx. 15°C) and fried on a pre-heated pan (160°C) to a core temperature of 75°C. Patties made from beef packed in MAP had reduced meat flavour and juiciness, while cooking loss, rancid flavour, warmed-over flavour (WOF), sour taste, rubbery texture and premature browning (PMB) increased compared with wrap. Meat frozen late had an increased rancid flavour and WOF (MAP only) and resulted in a longer chewing time, more rubbery texture and reduced juiciness. Thawing in a microwave oven reduced cooking loss (MAP only), WOF, rancid flavour, sour taste and PMB compared with other methods