Supercooling can preserve beef without freezing damage, whereas maintaining the supercooled state is difficult. An innovative method of static magnetic field extended supercooling (SM-ES) was proposed to maintain the non-frozen state of beef. Effect of SM-ES (-4 °C + SMF) compared with refrigerated (4 °C), slow-frozen (-4 °C) and frozen (-18 °C) treatment on beef quality was investigated. Results demonstrated that SM-ES successfully preserved beef at -4 °C without ice nucleation for 14 days. The SEM images revealed that the microstructure of slow-frozen/frozen samples was damaged due to crystallizing, while the ice nucleation was not observed in SM-ES treated beef. Compared with refrigerated, slow-frozen and frozen treatment, the drip loss of SM-ES decreased by 21.9%, 47.8% and 30.9%, respectively. The lipid oxidation degree of beef decreased following SM-ES treatment. SM-ES treatment extended the shelf-life of beef for more than 6 days compared with refrigeration while prevented its crystallizing.
Keywords: Beef; Meat preservation; Supercooling; The static magnetic field.
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