THE EFFECT OF STERILIZING AND SUB-STERILIZING DOSES OF CATHODE AND GAMMA RAYS ON THE PROPERTIES OF BEEF AND PORK. Report No. 14 (Final), December 6, 1954-January 1, 1962

Technical Report · Sat Oct 31 04:00:00 EST 1964

OSTI ID:4072801

Kauffman, F L

In research on the irradiation of beef and pork, both at sterilizing levels and pasteurizing levels, it was noted that at pasteurizing levels, although bacterial population was reduced, the cooler shelf life of both pork and beef was not appreciably altered as compared with the control. In fact, color degradation appeared more rapidly in some instances in the irradiated samples. A comparison was made wherein three different sources of radiation were used on beef steaks and pork chops at levels of 25,000 and 100,000 rads. The samples were irradiated in polyethylene bags and tested initially and after storage at 45 deg F for flavor, tenderness, and bacterial population. No differences in flavor or tenderness were noted between the control and irradiated samples. After one week at 45 deg C all of the beef samples, including the controls, had a sour taste indicating that irradiation did not sufficiently protect this product. The pork samples held up somewhat longer; however, the controls held up as well as the irradiated product. Effects of sterilizing doses on pork and beef from a gamma source and an 8 million volt linear accelerator were compared initially and after one, three, and six months storage at 45 deg F. Statistical analysis of strip steak mean fiavor scores indicated that the control steaks were significantly better in flavor than the irradiated steaks at each storage time. The tenderness mean scores of the irradiated steaks were very significantly higher than the control steaks. There were no significant differences between the two types of irradiation. A study was made wherein beef steaks were broiled to an internal temperature between 125 and 180 deg F prior to gamma irradiation at 2.8 M and 4.6 MI rads. Storage tests were made at 40 deg F and 100 deg F for periods up to six months. Ionizing irradiation reduced the bacterial population in all instances to less than 10 per gram. The flavor of all irradiated samples was markedly inferior to the nonirradiated controls. Pre-cooking had little effect on the flavor scores. Those products irradiated at 4.6 M rads were slightly inferior to those irradiated at 2.8 M rads. The aroma of all irradiated steaks was greatly inferior to that of the untreated frozen controls. Precooking or amount of irradiation had little effect on the average aroma scores. Tenderness of all irradiated steaks was greater than that of the unirradiated controls. This was less noticeable in the case of steaks precooked at 180 deg F. Samples of ground beef were mixed with alpha tocopherol, ascorbic acid, and vitamin A prior to irradiation with gamma rays. This mixture masked some of the irradiation flavor. Heating at 140 deg F for 16 hr either before or after irradiation had no particular effect on the flavor scores. A reduction in irradiation flavor in beef steaks was accomplished by lowering the temperature substantially during irradiation. Irradiation at 4.5 M rads at -196 deg C resulted in a product having little detectable irradiation flavor as scored by an expert panel. Meat frozen at other higher temperatures during irradiation had more irradiation flavor, but not as much as that irradiated at ambient temperature. (auth)

• Research Organization: Swift and Co. Research Labs., Chicago
• NSA Number: NSA-18-009833
• OSTI ID: 4072801
• Report Number(s): AD-403866
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

BACTERIA
BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE
COLOR
ENERGY
FLAVOR
FOOD
GAMMA RADIATION
IONIZATION
LINEAR ACCELERATORS
MEAT
PORK
PREPARATION
PRESERVATION
QUANTITY RATIO
RADIATION DOSES
RADIATION EFFECTS
STATISTICS
STERILIZATION
STORAGE
TEMPERATURE
VARIATIONS
VITAMIN A
VITAMIN C
VITAMINS