Influence of high pressure on the color and microbial quality of beef meat

An experimental design was used to study the effect of various pressure values (50-600 MPa) and holding times (20-300 s) on color and microbiological quality of bovine muscle (Biceps femoris). The experiments were conducted at 10degreesC. The pressure intensity is more significant than holding time for redness, total color difference and metmyoglobin content. Pressure higher than 300 MPa induces modifications of meat color parameters such a decrease of the total color difference (DeltaE), a decrease in the total flora and a 1 week delay before microbial growth (520 MPa, 260 s). During the first 3 days of storage (4degreesC), the increase in redness is maintained for the 130 MPa samples while the redness of the 520 MPa samples decreases gradually, in relation to the increase of metmyoglobin. The cooking (1 h at 65degreesC) done after pressurization led to the disappearance of color differences observed between the nontreated and pressurized samples. (C) 2003 Swiss Society of Food Science and Technology. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.