Quality Changes of Buffalo Meat during Low Temperature Storage

To investigate the mechanism of quality change of buffalo meat during the low temperature storage,fresh buffalo meat was selected as raw material,and was stored at three temperature gradients of 4,-18 and -60℃,respectively. The color,drip loss,pH value,diene value,cooking loss,volatile basic nitrogen(TVB-N value),total number of colonies and number of coliforms of buffalo meat during different storage were measured. The results showed that cooking loss,b^* value,diene value,volatile basic nitrogen,total number of colonies and coliform bacteria of buffalo meat increased significantly with the increasing of storage temperature(P<0.05),while a^* value and L^* value of buffalo meat were decreased significantly(P<0.05). With the prolongation of storage time,the drip loss,cooking loss,diene value,volatile basic nitrogen,total colony number and coliform bacteria of buffalo meat increased significantly(P<0.05). The present results indicated that the deterioration degree of buffalo quality was further aggravated. Under the three temperature conditions,the diene value,TVB-N value and total number of colonies of buffalo meat at 4℃ increased faster than that of frozen buffalo meat at -18,-60℃. The TVB-N value and total number of colonies of buffalo meat at 4℃ on the 10th day of storage were 20.08 mg/100 g and 6.7lg(CFU/g),which were significantly higher than those of frozen buffalo meat at -18,-60℃(P<0.05). Frozen buffalo meat at -18,-60℃ were still within the hygienic standard(GB 2707-2016). In conclusion,the prolongation of storage time and the increasing of temperature would result in a decline in the quality of buffalo meat. The cold storage at 4℃ was suitable for short-term storage of buffalo meat,and shelf-life was 8 days. The frozen storage at -18,-60℃ was suitable for long-term preservation of buffalo meat,and the frozen storage at -60℃ was more conducive to the quality stability and health of buffalo meat,and effectively extend the shelf life of buffalo meat.