ABSTRACT
The main objective of freezing is to prolong shelf life of foods. On this basis, freezing is considered an excellent means of maintaining acceptable quality in red meats for months and even years.
Currently consumers prefer chilled to frozen red meat, probably because of a desire on the part of the purchaser to assess several meat quality attributes, such as ratio of bone to muscle, presence of fat, and the like (49). Such an assessment is difficult when meat is frozen. Despite this, freezing and frozen storage of red meat are gradually increasing. Frozen storage is regarded as a useful technological aid because it makes possible the supply of large amounts of meat for catering and supermarkets, extends the storage life of meat when supply exceeds demand, and represents a flexible tool for sellers.
