There are a greater number of home freezers and combination freezer-refrigerators than in the past.

Transcription

1 58 The fairly recent survey sponsored by the USDA and National Livestock and Meat Board indicated that 78% of the consumers would reject buying meat already frozen, although, 87% of the consw7lers do freeze meat once they get it home. Another survey by Lister and Branson (1966) indicated that 8288$ of the homemakers would purchase frozen lamb roasts only if they were available in that form. Also there have been some rather costly, unsuccessful attempts to merchandise frozen meat by successful corporations. Irregzdless of these two points, the optimism is high throughout the meat processing and allied industries regarding the current and future potential success of frozen meat. This optimism is due to a number of items The total quantity of frozen food and convenience foods has expanded rather markedly the last five to ten years. Most of the expansion has been in; fruits, vegetables, prepared meals such as TV dinners, and frozen poultry. The homemaker has tried and accepted these items rather well. There are a greater number of home freezers and combination freezerrefrigerators than in the past. The processing, distribution and retailer equipment and technology has improved which should make for a greater quality control and more attractive products for the consumer. Portion control cuts, central processing and freezing all fit together naturally. The industry is rapidly increasing the number of centralized processing and portion control units, with freezing the next step. The retailer problems of training meat cutters and providing processing equipment and space will be pastia3ly eliminated by the combination of these areas. A more efficient distribution will be effected through routing product where it's most demanded and less product weight shipped. There are many isolated cases in which frozen meat is being successfully merchandised, both at retail and for the HRI trade, however, these are mostly on localized operations.

2 59 D The key t o merchandising f r o z e n meat obviously, i s q u a l i t y c o n t r o l of a consumer acceptable product. The reason most housewives give f o r not accepting f r o z e n meat i s t h a t t h e y cannot t r u s t t h e q u a l i t y of product frozen. T hi s i s one good a r e a i n which t h e pr oc e ssor s have a chance t o develop an image and a r e p u t a t i o n f o r a given product. I t ' s accepted by th o se a ssoc ia te d with f r o z e n meat work t h a t f r e e z e processing w i l l be an EVOLUTIONARY not a r e volutiona r y process. Convenience s t o r e s today merchandise predominantly f r o z e n meat products and it i s t h e opinion of many t h a t convenience s t o r e s w i l l be t h e i n t e r i m s t e p between now and t h e major acceptance of f r o z e n r e t a i l c u t s of meat i n our supermarket chain s t o r e s. W e a l s o know t h a t convenience s t o r e s a r e r a p i d l y coming i n t o e x i s t e n c e and are popular. Now, t h e q u estio n might a l s o be asked why f r o z e n lamb? W e would a l l agree t h a t lamb today i s solnewhat of a s p e c i a l t y item or gourmet food. The consumption of lamb has been decreasing per c a p i t a r a t h e r c o n s i s t e n t l y t h e p a s t f e w years. Two t h i n g s can be done through t h e merchandising of f r o z e n lamb t h a t might rev erse t h i s consumption p a t t e r n. The f i r s t and most important i s t h a t t h e market f o r lamb would be g r e a t l y extended by merchand i s i n g a p o r t i o n of t h e product f r oz e n. L e t ' s not worry about our t h r e e n a j o r metr opolitan a r e a s t h a t consume most of t h e lamb, i.e., t h e New York, C h i c e o, and Los Angeles areas. L e t ' s consider t h e midwestern a r e a as an example. L e s s t h a n 10% of t h e s t o r e s i n Kansas c a r r y lamb with any degree of r e g u l a r i t y. O u r v i s i t s with r e t a i l e r s throughout t h e s t a t e i n d i c a t e t h a t t h e y have numerous c a l l s f o r lamb. However, t h e y do not maintain a supply of lamb simply because t h e y cannot merchandise t h e e n t i r e c a r c a s s or even c e r t a i n wholesale c u t s. The use of f r o z e n lamb would increase t h e she lf l i f e up t o six weeks or more and t h e r e t a i l e r would purchase only t h o s e r e t a i l c u t s which had been demanded i n t h e p a s t. It would not t a k e much of an e xte nsion of t h e c u r r e n t market t o have a tremendous impact on t h e o v e r a l l consumption of lamb. The second f a c t o r i s t h a t c e n t r a l processing and f r e e z i n g w i l l e f f e c t a t i g h t e r c o n t r o l on q u a l i t y, merchandising and t h e d i s t r i b u t i o n c onditions. The e f f i c i e n c y of d i s t r i b u t i o n w i l l be due t o t h e d i s t r i b u t i o n of those c u t s a t t h e l o c a t i o n i n which t h e r e i s m a x i m u m demand for them. A major p o i n t t o consider when d i s c u s s i n g t h e f e a s i b i l i t y of merchand i s i n g f r o z e n lamb or any m e a t products i s one of whether t o merchandise i n an opaque box or i n a t r a n s p a r e n t f i l m. The most convenient but not t h e most economical way would be t o merchandise f r o z e n meat i n a very a t t r a c t i v e box. T h i s i s being done by a f e w processors very s u c c e s s f u l l y i n p a r t s of t h e country. One of our major s u p p l i e r s has made t h e c o m e n t t h a t no f r o z e n food i s a t t r a c t i v e ; t h e r e f o r e, it d l should be placed i n a box f o r r e t a i l sale. Contrary t o t h i s, however, i s t h e f a c t t h a t t h e consumer ha s come t o purchase f r e s h meat i n a t r a n s p a r e n t f i l m, t h e r e f o r e, l i k e s t o see and e v a l u a t e what she buys, although may know nothing about it. Again many i n i n d u s t r y have t h e opinion t h a t t h e c u t s w i l l have t o be i n a f i l m i n i t i a l l y, the n l a t e r moved t o a boxed form. O u r work at t h e c u r r e n t t i m e i s based on t h e assumption t h a t most of t h e products w i l l have t o be placed i n a f i l m. However, w e will t e s t

3 60. market some time t h i s a l s o have t h e opinion some of t h e o t h e r r e d eliminat e many of our next yeas product both i n a f i l m and i n a box. W e t h a t c e r t a i n lamb i t e m s may be more easy t o box t h a n meats. Obviously, p la c i ng t h e product i n a box would c u r r e n t c olo r problems. Before d iscu ssin g some of our s p e c i f i c s t u d i e s on f r o z e n lamb I would l i k e t o recognize some of t h e agencies f o r helping t o make t h i s study po s s i b l e. These w e : t h e American Sheep Producers Council, t h e National Live Stock and Meat Board, and many commercial f i r m s. I would also l i k e t o acknowledge some of my colleagues t h a t have been most instrumental i n t h i s program: D r. Don Kropf, J!k. Bob Smith, M r. Melvin H u n t and Dr. Keith Lind from our department th e n and I would also add t h a t w e have personnel involved from t h e Departments of Foods & Nu tr i t i o n, Mechanical Engineering, S t a t i s t i c s and Economics. The i n i t i a l study I w i l l r e p o r t on involves t h e use of lamb l o i n chops. There were f i v e major va xi a bl e s st ud ie d. ( S l i d e 1) F i r s t, t h r e e q u a l i t y l e v e l s ( s l i g h t l y abundantmoderate, s ma l l s li gh t and devoidp r a c t i c a l l y devoid marbling). Second, two f r e e z i n g temperatures (4OOF, l i q u i d nitr ogen and 159 i n a B l a s t ). Third, two d i s p l a y case temperatures (20% and 0 9 ) 4th, 2 films (oxygen permeable ve r s us oxygen impermeable) and l a s t two types of l i g h t s over t h e d i s p l a y case (cool white beam f l u o r e s c e n t versus incandescent holophane p r i s m i t i c with a r e f l e c t a n c e f i x t u r e. Both were a t 100 f o o t candles. S l i d e 2 shows t h e d i s p l a y case and l i g h t i n g arrangement. S l i d e 3 shows t h e B & L 600 reflectance Spectrophotometer which w a s used as an o b j e c t i v e co lo r measure. Weight and c ol or ( a v i s u a l and an ob je c t iv e measure by r e f l e c t a n c e with a r e f l e c t a n c e spectrophotometer) were obtained b e f or e and a f t e r packaging f r e s h and f r o z e n a t 0, 1, 7, 21, and 42 days post f r e e z i n g and a f t e r unwrapping and thawing. None of t h e v a r i a b l e s studied a f f e c t e d weight of t h e chops. The q u a l i t y levels d i d not a f f e c t t h e c o lo r s t a b i l i t y. Freezing at 40% improved both t h e visual. c o lo r and t h e r e f l e c t a n c e readings. The d i s p l a y temperature of 209 r e s u l t e d i n improved v i s u a l scores a t 0, 1 and 42 days with higher co lo r r e f l e c t a n c e a t s e l e c t e d wave l e n g t h s but no d i f f e r e n c e i n t h e 474/525 and / r a t i o s. Packaging i n oxygen permeable f i l m improved t h e v i s u a l c o l o r score i n f r e s h and i n f r o z e n chops at 1 and 42 days. This w a s a l s o v e r i f i e d by t h e r e f l e c t a n c e spectrophotometer. Incandescent l i g h t i n g caused t h e improved v i s u a l score i n t h e f r o z e n chops and also t h i s w a s noted by t h e 474/525 r e f l e c t a n c e r a t i o s a t 7, 21 and 42 days. O w s t u d i e s with Home Economics are not d i f f e r e n t th a n some of t h e other work t h a t has been rep o r te d. That i s, e s s e n t i a l l y t h e r e i s no e f f e c t of f r e e z i n g on t h e tenderness, j u i c i n e s s, f l a v o r and o v e r a l l a c c e p t a b i l i t y of lamb as compared t o t h e f r e s h unfrozen lamb. The water holding c a p a c it y and t h e percent t o t a l moisture was not a f f e c t e d by f r e e z i n g by any of t h e methods a t t h i s t i m e. An i n t e r e s t i n g si de l i g h t a t t h i s t i m e, i s t h a t i n an attempt t o come up with cookery d i r e c t i o n s f o r our t e s t marketing study we found t h a t you cannot use a given t i m e per pound t o cook t h e f r oz e n product. For example i f it t a k e s 41/2 hours t o cook t h e 5 l b. l e g you cannot c u t t h e t i m e i n half, t o 21/4 hours, t o cook a 21/2 l b. r o a s t. I t h i n k we have a l o t t o l e a n i n t h i s area and many of our cookbooks could use some updating i n t h a t regard. Another of o u r s t u d i e s has involved product temperature i n the d i s p l a y case and what happens a t d i f f e r e n t d i s p l a y case temperatures t o include t h e d e f r o s t cy cle. Display case temperature and degree of f i l m

4 61. p ermeabilit y appeax t o be c r i t i c a l parameters f o r meat t o keep i t s bloom and a t t r a c t i v e appearance i n t h e r e t a i l c a se. We've he ld some beef i n our l a b f o r 6 weeks packaged i n f i l m with a very a t t r a c t i v e c o l o r being maintained all during t h a t time. T h i s w a s i n a d i s p l a y case he ld at 20%'. We switched t h i s same product over t o a case held a t 0 9 and it took about 2 days f o r a r a t h e r drzmatic change i n c o l o r. A s we've looked a t some of t h i s a l i t t l e b i t c l o s e r we f i n d t h a t t h e r e i s a v a s t d i f f e r e n c e between t h e ambient case temperature and t h e a c t u a l product temperature. ( S l i d e 4) W e have checked t h e temperature r i g h t a t t h e rack l e v e l of t h e case, on t h e bottom s i d e of t h e package, on t h e t o p s i d e of t h e package and t h e n an inch and a h a l f above t h e package of f r o z e n meat. S u r p r i s i n g l y a s it may seem temperature between t h e f i l m and meat on t h e t o p s i d e of t h e package may run a s much a s 15 t o 20 higher t h a n t h e ambient case temperature. This w a s a l i t t l e s t a r t l i n g, we knew t h a t it might be a l i t t l e higher but not t h a t high. W e a t t r i b u t e p a r t of t h i s t o t h e r a d i a n t heat from t h e l i g h t source above t h e c a se. On t h e bottom s i d e of t h e package, however, t h e r e i s no l i g h t, but some r e f l e c t i o n and t h e r e was about a 1 0 ' r i s e i n t h e temperature. A t t h i s l o c a t i o n we assumed t h e product might be t h e same as t h e ambient temperature. Meat, t h e same as many o t h e r products, w i l l absorb energy from a g r e a t many sources. ( S l i d e 5) This s l i d e w i l l give you an i n d i c a t i o n of product temperature i n t h e case with an ambient temperature minus 15. You can see t h a t a s t h e case goes through t h e d e f r o s t cycle t h e a i r temperature moves up t o about 509. Also on t o p of t h e product you g e t a reading of about +22% although it drops of f r a t h e r sha r ply as it comes out of t h e d e f r o s t cy cle. Please note t h a t w e ' r e t a l k i n g roughly about an hour and a h a l f t o go through t h e d e f r o s t c yc le. I t ' s our f e e l i n g t h a t t h e c r i t i c a l time i s during t h e d e f r o s t cycle and t h e t i m e t h a t it t a k e s t o b r i n g t h e product temperature back down. We 've maintained product with l i t t l e c o l o r change f o r up t o 6 weeks under t h e s e c onditions. ( S l i d e 6) Now, as w e t a k e a look a t t h i s next s l i d e t h e ambient temperature i s about 4aF. The t o p s i d e of t h e product i s up a t about +15 and a c t u a l l y as it goes through t h e d e f r o s t cy cle t h e product approaches O which i s f a i r l y c l o s e t o t h e thaw p o i n t, i n f a c t i f t h e product were very f a r up i n t h e case obviously t h e t o p s i d e would thaw. Under t h e s e c onditions t h e product temperature comes down more slowly a f t e r t h e d e f r o s t cycle t h a n a t t h e lower o r 15%' temperature. The next s l i d e ( 7 ) shows t h e temperature c y c l e s with t h e l i g h t o f f. The temperature r e l a t i o n s h i p s a t t h e va r ious l o c a t i o n s are t h e same, only 3 '5 lower t h a n with t h e l i g h t s on. ( S l i d e 8) The product does not drop temperature as r a p i d l y a f t e r d e f r o s t i n g with t h e l i g h t on. A rule of thumb i s t h a t l i g h t s cause about 1/3 1/Z0 r i s e i n temperature for every 1 0 f o o t c a ndle s. The t e s t marketing phase of t h e study was r e c e n t l y completed, however, t h e d a t a i s not analyzed. W e conducted t h i s study i n Manhattan i n two of our supermarkets f o r 3 weeks. It i s sa f e t o say j u s t by looking over t h e results at t h i s time t h a t t h e r e a c t i o n t o f r o z e n lamb i n Manhattan was very f a v o r a b l e. I n f a c t, fav o ra b le enough t h a t t h e markets have zsked us t o produce a d d i t i o n a l product so t h a t t h e y might r e t a i l it. Ve were merchandising rack chops, l o i n chops, 21/2 l b s. boneless l e g s, 5 l b s. boneless l e g s and 4 l b s. shoulders. W e attempted t o h i t t h e s e weights s p e c i f i c a l l y because t h e d i r e c t i o n s which were handed out t o t h e consumer had s p e c i f i c cooking t i m e s and temperatures. The hoilsewife i s not going t o i n s e r t a thermometer after t h e r o a s t has been thawed b ut before completely cooked. We did suggest t h a t t h e y cook t h e r o a s t s from t h e f r oz e n s t a t e. The o n l y consumer obje c ti o n t h a t we came up with t h u s f a r appa r e ntly w a s t h e p r i c e of t h e lamb. I t h i n k t h a t we might have had t h e same comment regarding any study with beef o r pork.

5 62. There a r e many unanswered que stions regarding d i s p l a y case temperatures, f r e e z i n g temperatures, as well as f r e e z i n g methods, ga s pe r me ab i l i t y of t h e v ario u s f i l m s, and use of t h e f i l m ve r sus box. C e r t a i n l y we hav e n ' t c o w up with d l t h e answers and t h e s e a r e all c ha lle nging and i n t e r e s t i n g areas a r e y et t o be researched. I n s m a s y, f i r s t t h e r e i s n ' t any que stion i n my mind but what f r o z e n meat i s here and w i l l be i n t h c f u t u r e. The i n d u s t r y i n t e r e s t i s f a n t a s t i c. There a r e many new processing p l < m t s being b u i l t r i g h t now involvi n g t h e f r o z e n meat aspect e i t h e r f o r r e t a i l or f o r t h e h o t e l, r e s t a u r a n t or i n s t i t u t i o n a l l e v e l. Second, we are way behind i n t h e f i e l d of meats as far as t h e convenience food market goes. Our approach i s t o simplif y t h e preparat i o n and d i r e c t i o n s f o r t h e housewife. We w i l l never educate t h e housewife t o use a thermometer, so t h i s means t h a t we might a s w e l l recognize t h a t f a c t and t h a t w e have t o t a l k about t i n e and temperature. To do t h i s, t h i s also means uniformity of s i z e, weight, shape and q u a l i t y. T h i s means c e n t r z l processing and f r e e z i n g t i e s i n extremely w e l l. Third, r o a s t s are of l i t t l e problem, t h e y c m be processed and made t o look very a t t r a c t i v e a t r e t a i l. Chops and s t e a k s are more d i f f i c u l t t o process a t t r a c t i v e l y but t h i s problem can be overcome. Apparently based on some our preliminary work pork w i l l be t h e e a s i e s t t o f r e e z e and maintain c o l o r, lamb second and beef t h e most d i f f i c u l t t o work with. This may be due t o t h e amount of pigment i n t h e muscle which i s obviously r e l a t e d t o o v e r a l l bloom or c o l o r. There a r e a l s o muscle d i f f e r e n c e s w i t h i n sp ecies. ( S l i d e 9) L a s t, i f w e t a k e a look a t t h e changes t h a t have occurred i n t h e meat i n d u s t r y f r e e z i n g c e r t a i n l y f i t s i n t o t h e p i c t u r e. SLIDE #IQuality Three Levels Freezing Liq. Nitrogen, B l a s t Freeze Temp 4OOC 26 OC Case Temp 29OC 21OC Film O2 Perm. 02 Imperm. Case Light Fluore scent Incandescent

6 n L 3c t L 22 o w Q 63.

7 64.

8 65.

9 66.

10 67.

11 68. THE CHA1u;ING MEAT INDUSTRY 1. Centralized Volume 2. D e c e n t r a l i z a t i o n 3. Saw Ready 4. Oven Ready Full line Specialized K i l l & Chill Cryovac Who1esaL.e Cuts R e t a i l Cuts 5. Frozen R e t a i l Cuts 6. Convenience Foods DAVE CRAMER: Thank you Harold. It looks l i k e you f o l k s a t Kansas S t a t e are going t o do a l o t t o h e l p t h e packers, purveyors and s o on t o solve some of t h e i r problems when t h e y g e t i n t o t h i s f r o z e n product b u s i n e s s, The next paper i s by Gary Smith. Gary w a s on t h e staff at Washington S t a t e he took about a threeyear leave of absence and went down t o Texas A&M t o work with Zerle Cwpenter, t o do a Fh.D., and he worked on lamb for h i s program. I n t h e true t r a d i t i o n of Texas he d i d b i g t h i n g s down t h e r e. H e c u t neazly 600 lambs down t h e r e and g o t c u t a b i l i t y d a t a on them: he did organoleptic e v a l u a t i o n s on about twothirds of them or about 350 lambs i n a cooperative study with Texas A&M and Karl Hoke's group with t h e ARS and Ned T y l e r ' s boys with Standardization Branch. The work t h a t Gary i s going t o r e p o r t on today i s t h e p a l a t a b i l i t y s t u d i e s t h a t he d i d with lamb down i n Texas. Gary ##########if