The involvement of lactic acid in calcium chloride injection of top and bottom rounds further processed into cooked corned beef and cooked beef

Abstract

Top and bottom rounds were removed 30 minutes after exsanguination from 8 pure bred Brahman cows. Top and bottom rounds were removed from both sides of the carcass and were divided equally into four treatments: Hot control (HOT); Cold control (COLD); .2M CaCl2 injection (CCL) and .2M CaCl2 injection with I% Lactic acid (LACCL). Top and bottom rounds were further processed into cooked beef and cooked corned beef, respectively. Cooked corned beef and cooked beef were randomly assigned to three storage periods (1, 36 and 71 days). Processing was divided into two days with equal numbers of treatments processed each day. LACCL had significantly lower cook yields (%) for cooked corned beef compared to the COLD, HOT and CCL treatments. Cook yields did not differ (p<0.05) between treatments for cooked beef. The pH for LACCL was lower in both cooked corned beef and cooked beef. A low moisture (%), pH and water holding capacity contributed to lower cook yields in LACCL for cooked corned beef. Microbiological levels increased with increased storage days for both cooked corned beef and cooked beef. There were not differences (p<0.05) in microbiological levels between treatments in the cooked beef. LACCL in the cooked corned beef were lower in microbiological levels than the COLD, HOT and CCL treatments. There were no differences in shear force values between treatments in both cooked corned beef and cooked beef. LACCL had the lowest Hunter color L, a, and b values compared to the COLD, HOT and CCL treatments. Subjectively, CCL had the highest subjective cured meat color scores. LACCL was more variable in color and exhibited more gray color than the other treatments. In the sensory evaluation for cooked corned beef and cooked beef, LACCL injected cuts rated higher in "off" flavors. LACCL scored higher for soured, livery, chemical and sour tastes when compared to the COLD, HOT, and CCL treatments. Therefore, the injection of .2M CaCl2 alone, into subprimal cuts further processed into cooked beef or cooked corned beef did not adversely affect cook yields, microbial counts, or shear force values over storage days; however, improvements in tenderness of the prerigor CaCl2 injection system were not apparent after cooking top and bottom rounds as defined in this study.