1. Acidification process of beef
After the animal is slaughtered, its muscle tissue undergoes certain changes to be transformed into edible meat, including rigor mortis, thawing and maturation. Acidification is a meat post-maturation process advocated by modern meat hygiene and nutrition. As early as the 1960s, developed countries began to study and promote the acidification of meat. Now, the market share of acidification meat in developed countries has almost reached 100%.
Acidification meat should be called "cooled acidification meat" to be precise. Compared with hot fresh meat slaughtered in the early morning and put on the market early in the morning, acidification meat is placed at a cooling temperature (0-4℃) for 12-24 hours, which can inhibit the growth and reproduction of most microorganisms. Clostridium botulinum and Staphylococcus aureus no longer secrete toxins, and the enzymes in the meat act to decompose part of the protein into amino acids, while emptying the blood and body fluids accounting for 18%-20% of body weight, thereby reducing the content of harmful substances and ensuring the safety and hygiene of meat. Compared with frozen meat, deacidified meat has undergone a more complete de-stiffening process, so its meat is soft and elastic, easy to cook and rot, delicate in taste, delicious, and has high nutritional value.
After the live cattle are slaughtered and naturally cooled to room temperature, the two carcasses are sent to the cooling room. Under a certain temperature, humidity and wind speed, the lactic acid components in the beef are decomposed into carbon dioxide, water and alcohol, and then volatilized. At the same time, the macromolecular adenosine triphosphate in the cells is decomposed into umami glycosides - IMP (the main component of MSG) under the action of enzymes. The pH of the beef after deacidification is changed, and the metabolic products are decomposed and discharged to the greatest extent, thus achieving harmlessness. At the same time, the molecular structure of the meat is changed, and the nutritional value is higher than that of ordinary beef, and the taste is greatly improved. It is soft and juicy, delicious, soft in color, easy to chew, and easy to digest. Even if it is eaten raw, its nutrient absorption and utilization rate is also high.
Deacidification is carried out in 3 stages. In the first stage, the freshly slaughtered carcass meat is placed in an acid-draining warehouse at 5-10℃ and blown directly by a fan for 8 hours to air-dry the meat surface; in the second stage, the air-dried beef is placed in an acid-draining warehouse at 3-5℃ for 8-10 hours; in the third stage, the beef that has undergone the acid-draining treatment in the second stage is placed in an acid-draining warehouse at -1-2℃ for 56 hours of post-acid-draining. The use of the staged acid-draining method to deacidify the beef can make the deacidification of the beef more thorough and effectively improve the color of the meat, thereby further improving the quality of the deacidified beef.
2. Quick-freezing process of beef
The quick-freezing process of beef is: raw material processing → packaging → quick freezing (or quick freezing first and then packaging) → storage and refrigeration.
2.1 Quality of raw materials
Select beef with fresh and shiny meat, uniform red color, firm texture, slightly dry appearance, non-sticky, no odor, and qualified quarantine.
2.2 Pre-treatment
The temperature in the trimming room should be lower than 12 ℃. Clean the congestion, edema and abscess on the surface of the beef carcass, cut off the lymph nodes outside the incision, debone and decompose, divide the meat from different parts, and use a knife to gently trim the air-dried film, congestion, broken bones, fat, larger blood vessels, hair and other dirt on the surface of the meat, and trim the tendons other than those with special requirements. Roll the cut beef tightly with food-grade plastic, label it, the label should match the content, and the production date should be marked.
2.3 Quick freezing
Quickly put the processed beef into the quick freezing warehouse for quick freezing. The temperature of the quick freezing warehouse is controlled at -40 to -28 ℃. The quick freezing is completed when the internal temperature of the beef reaches -18 ℃ within 48 hours, and the quick-frozen food is transported to the cold storage for storage. It should be noted that the internal temperature of the product should be measured 2.5 cm below the center of its maximum surface. When the thickness of one side of the product is less than 5.0 cm, the measuring point should be in the middle of this thickness.
2.4 Product packaging and transportation
The storage of finished products requires a cold storage that is suitable for production capacity. The temperature in the cold storage should be maintained at -18 ℃ or lower, and the temperature fluctuation should be controlled within 2 ℃. Frozen beef shall not be mixed with harmful, toxic, odorous items or other sundries.
The compartment of the transport vehicle for transporting products shall meet the relevant hygiene standards, and the temperature in the compartment must be maintained at -18 ℃ or lower. The compartment must be pre-cooled to 10 ℃ or lower before loading, and an instrument that can record the temperature of the product during transportation must be installed. The temperature is allowed to rise to -15 ℃ during transportation, but it should be reduced to -18 ℃ as soon as possible after delivery.
The manufacturer should inform the sales unit that the product needs to be sold under frozen conditions, the temperature of the product in the low-temperature display cabinet shall not be higher than -15 ℃, and the storage and display of the product should be separated from unpackaged frozen products.
Helper Machinery Group Co., Ltd.
