Freezing and calcium chloride marination effects on beef tenderness and calpastatin activity1

Abstract

Because freezing samples decreases calpastatin activity and the application of exogenous calcium activates the calpain proteolytic system, thereby improving tenderness, the objective of this study was to determine whether freezing would enhance the effects of CaCl2 marination on the tenderness of beef steaks. Longissimus steaks were obtained from 10 beef steers 6 d postmortem. One-half of the steaks were frozen at -30 degrees C for 6 wk. The remaining steaks were treated fresh; one-half were subjected to a 150 mM CaCl2 marinade for 48 h. Frozen steaks were thawed and subjected to the same treatment. Treatments consisted of 1) fresh control, 2) fresh marinated, 3) frozen control, and 4) frozen marinated. Samples were taken before and after treatment (6 and 8 d) for calpastatin activity determination and d 8 for SDS-PAGE. Warner-Bratzler shear force values were measured 8 d postmortem. Data were analyzed using a paired comparison t-test procedure. Results showed that freezing and marination significantly decreased calpastatin activity. A .35-kg improvement (P = .07) in Warner-Bratzler shear force was observed with freezing, whereas a .78-kg improvement (P less than .01) in tenderness was observed with marination. However, prior freezing enhanced the effects of marination. Therefore, the decrease in calpastatin activity seemed to allow greater proteolysis by the calpains with the application of Ca2+. The SDS-PAGE of myofibril preparations indicated that more small polypeptide fragments (28 to 32 kDa) appeared and a 95-kDa fragment was more intense in the marinated samples than in control samples, indicating that proteolysis was enhanced.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Freezing and thawing or freezing, thawing, and aging effects on beef tenderness1,2,3

“…Calpastatin, but not calpain, has been shown to be sensitive to frozen storage, with calpastatin decreasing over time during frozen storage (Koohmaraie, 1990). Thus, freezing, thawing, and then aging might allow calpain to be more active and result in more proteolysis than from normal aging (Crouse and Koohmaraie, 1990;Whipple and Koohmaraie, 1992). Furthermore, freezing and thawing without additional aging might improve tenderness through structural damage from ice crystal formation (Hiner et al, 1945;Petrović et al, 1993).…”

Effects of breed, muscle type, and frozen storage on physico-chemical characteristics of lamb meat and its relationship with tenderness

“…The intramuscular fat, cooking loss, and shear force were significantly affected by frozen storage time. As the intramuscular fat was increased, and the cooking loss and shear force values decreased with the increasing storage time, the tenderness tended to improve; possibly as a result of calpain and catheptic activities (Whipple & Koohmaraie, 1992;Whipple et al, 1990).…”

Effect of Marination Method and Holding Time on Physicochemical and Sensory Characteristics of Broiler Meat

“…Many studies have been conducted to investigate the infl uence of type of marinade solutions on the sensory and morphological characteristics of diff erent meat types such as beef (Hinkle, 2010), pork (Sheard and Tali, 2004), chicken (Alvaradо and McKee, 2007), and horse meat (Vlahova-Vangelova et al, 2014). Moreover, some studies investigated the eff ect of the holding time and temperature on eating qualities of meat (Fenton et al, 1993).…”