ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the literature focusing on the effects of freezing, frozen storage, and thawing on the quality of cured and processed meat products. Assuming the reader has an understanding of the identity of various cured meat products, it should be noted that processed meats will refer to any meat product that has received nonmeat ingredients including whole muscle products or meat comminuted in some form to include ground beef and pork. Muscle tissue is detrimentally affected by slow freezing. The moisture in the cell freezes into large crystals mainly in the intercellular spaces, resulting in colloids becoming very dehydrated. Tempering, or partial thawing, can often be employed to reduce the problems of drip loss, bacterial growth, and other deteriorative changes. Cryostabilization of the functional properties of comminuted prerigor and postrigor beef that was vacuum packaged and stored frozen for 5 months was investigated.
