Changes in structure property of myofibrillar protein from porcine longissimus dorsi were monitored during 12 months of storage at –5, –18, –26, –35 and –70 °C. With the extended frozen time at the same temperature, Ca2+-ATPase activity, K+-ATPase activity, total sulfhydryl content reactive sulfhydryl content decreased (P < 0.05), surface hydrophobicity (S0-NAS) increased (P < 0.05). Meanwhile, stucture of myofibrillar protein was more susceptible to high frozen storage temperature than low frozen storage temperature. There was markedly loss in band intensity of myosin heavy chain, actin, paramyosin, troponin, and propomyosin from frozen meat within frozen storage.

The quality characteristic of High Rib (HR), Striploin (SL), Brisket (BK) and Rump (RP) from Songjiang cattle was investigated. The water content, crude protein, intramuscular fat (IMF), color, shear force, pH, cooking loss and sensory evaluation of samples were analyzed. The results showed that, HR sample had the highest (P < 0.05) IMF and RP sample had the highest (P < 0.05) water content. Although crude protein contents among different of samples had significant difference (P < 0.05), its difference was not large as IMF and water content. Cooking loss and hardness value of HR were both lower than other cuts, whereas a* values was not the highest one (P < 0.05). Hardness and cooking loss were both lowest (P < 0.05) in SL, and highest in RP and BK, respectively. The results demonstrated that quality of HR and SL was better than other cuts, and IMF was the key factor that induced the beef quality difference.

One of the roles nitrite played in meat curing is to produce the characteristic pink color, but the use is limited due to its potential carcinogenicity. In this study, porcine blood was used for synthesizing glycosylated nitrosyl-hemoglobin (G-NO-Hb) through maillard reaction and the preparation conditions were optimized. Also, the stability of G-NO-Hb was assessed by UV-Vis spectra. The results showed that: the optimum ratio of blood cells to water was 1: 2, nitrite of 2 mg/kg reaction mixture was chosen. The synthesized G-NO-Hb solution was rather stable under light radiation at 20°C for 20d. It revealed that G-NO-Hb was a potential stable pigment used for meat curing as a nitrite substitute.

The influence of pre-fried time and temperature on the cooking yield, shear force, color and sensory quality of microwave beef kebabs were evaluated. The beef kebabs were fried for 20 s, 40 s, 60 s and 80 s at 170 ± 2 °C, 180 ± 2 °C or 190 ± 2 °C in the fryer. The results revealed that beef kebabs fried at 190 ± 2 °C for 60 s had significantly higher cooking yield, shear force, redness (a*), yellowness (b*), flavor, color and overall acceptability than the samples fried at 170 ± 2 °C and 180 ± 2 °C for 60 s. Lightness (L*), juiciness and tenderness of beef kebabs fried at 190 ± 2 °C for 60 s were lower than samples fried at 170 ± 2 °C and 180 ± 2 °C for 60 s. In addition, the cooking yield values fried at 190 ± 2 °C for different times was increased by 4.58%, 3.49%, 2.37% and 1.12% over that fried at 170 ± 2 °C. Beef kebabs fried at 190 ± 2 °C for 60 s promoted the color and cooking yield remarkably and had a beneficial effect on sensory characteristics during frying. The optimum frying parameters of kebabs were at 190 ± 2 °C of oil temperature for 60 s of frying time.

Nitrite is a key ingredient during meat curing but harmful to human health. Staphylococcus xylosus and Lactobacillus fermentum were inoculated to raw pork batters to replace for nitrite. Based on the pH value and redness (a*-value) of the batters, the fermentation conditions were optimized by single factor experiments. The results showed that with the inoculation level of 107 cfu/g, the fermentation temperature and time were chosen as 8 h and 30°C, respectively. The optimum ratio of S. xylosus to L. fermentum ratio was 2:1. 20 mg/kg nitrite was necessary for the color formation of the meat batters. It revealed that S. xylosus and L. fermentum fermentation could partially replace for nitrite in pork batters.