Pulsed electric fields effects on meat tissue quality and functionality

Abstract

The meat industry is currently exploring the feasibility of using pulsed electric field processing to improve the functional properties and quality of lower value tougher meat cuts. The challenge for the meat industry is to produce products that have a standardized and guaranteed quality. This is important as attributes such as color, tenderness, and meat juiciness influence either the initial purchasing (color) or the repurchasing (tenderness and juiciness) behavior of consumers. The microstructural changes generated by pulsed electric field (PEF) processing have the potential to improve meat tenderness and juiciness. The effectiveness of PEF processing is dependent on PEF processing parameters and the properties of the meat; nevertheless the technology has the potential to improve the quality of various meat cuts, resulting in benefits to the meat industry and to consumers. PEF is an energy-efficient food processing technology that can replace uneconomical processing steps currently used in the meat industry to enhance the quality of lower value cuts. This chapter discusses the potential applications of pulsed electric field processing in the enhancement of meat quality and functionality.