Freezing and Thawing Survey 2023: Practices Used in the Beef Industry
Abstract
Freezing and thawing of beef has been a solution that allows for beef to be used past its typical shelf life, however, negative quality factors can arise from freezing. The phrase used by the beef industry to prevent negative quality factors is “Freeze Fast, Thaw Slow.” It is unknown if the fresh beef industry is following this method or not. The purpose of this survey was to identify areas within key segments of the beef industry that either follow or do not follow this methodology. The FSIS list of USDA inspected plants was downloaded and filtered for only establishments that have “Meat Slaughter” and/or “Meat processing” in the “Activities” column. Following filtering, n=4,247 establishment were selected and n=1,798 were contacted by telephone. Of the n=1,798 establishments that were contacted, n=261 establishments completed a survey answering questions about freezing and thawing practices at their plant. Out of the completed surveys, the largest frequency of establishment activities was slaughter and fabrication (42.53%). Of the plants that froze beef (n=228), 35.24% froze primal/subprimals, retail cuts, and trimming/ground beef using primarily trays (16.52%) and boxes on a pallet (16.52%). The most common freezer technologies were “still air” (44.89%), followed by blast (35.56%). Of the plants that thawed beef (n=108), 27.27% used boxes in a single layer on a shelf, and 13.64% thawed whole boxes on pallets. The most common freezing times reported were 6-24 hours (50.00%) and 24-48 hours (24.81%) with a reported mean temperature of -22.2 °C. The most common thawing times reported were 24-48 hours (23.84%) and 48-72 hours (16.56%), with a reported mean temperature of 3.1 °C. Maximum and minimum freezing temperatures were -51.1 °C and -1.7 °C. Maximum and minimum thawing temperatures were 19.7 °C and -1.9 °C. These data indicate that a large portion of establishments are using freezing methods that do not maximize product quality, with 95.52% of plants that are not optimally freezing based on temperatures reported. Therefore, additional information and or best practices for freezing and thawing might be needed to ensure that beef quality is not negatively impacted.
Description
Keywords
Freezing, Thawing, Beef