Effects of High-Voltage Electric Field Process Parameters on the Water-Holding Capacity of Frozen Beef during Thawing Process

Abstract

In order to investigate the thawing time and water-holding capacity under high-voltage electric field (HVEF), we studied the thawing experiments of frozen beef in a multiple needles-to-plate electrode system. The electric field, thawing characteristics, and quality parameters during the thawing process were measured. The results showed that compared with the control, the thawing time of beef under HVEF was significantly shortened, the thawing rate increased significantly, the drip loss decreased, and the centrifugal loss increased during the thawing process. By the response surface analysis and single-factor analysis of variance, the best thawing conditions for each thawing parameter were determined. It provides a theoretical basis and practical guidance for understanding the characteristic parameters of the high-voltage electric field thawing technology.

Spectral Characteristics of Needle Array-Plate Dielectric Barrier Discharge Plasma and Its Activated Water

“…e needle-plate corona discharge device was widely used in promoting seed germination [20,21], drying [22,23], thawing [24], and other aspects. In order to improve the concentration of plasma active particles and highlight the effect of electric field on water, the DBD structure and the traditional needle array-plate corona discharge structure were combined, and a needle array-plate DBD device was used.…”

A comprehensive review of the principles, key factors, application, and assessment of thawing technologies for muscle foods

“…As detailed in the aforementioned sections, in the nonuniform electric field generated by the plate electrode, the free electrons are accelerated under the action of the electric field force to form corona wind (Goodenough et al., 2007; Dalvi‐Isfahan et al., 2016) and then collide with the uncharged particles in the electric field and generate turbulence and vortex, thereby producing a good heat transfer effect (He et al., 2016; H. Huang et al., 2020; Li, Jia, Zhang, Li, et al., 2017). Numerous studies have shown that the effect and energy consumption of electric field thawing are related to the voltage, electrode spacing, and distance between adjacent needles (Bai et al., 2011; Y. M. Zhang et al., 2019).…”

“…Therefore, the increase in the heat transfer coefficient resulted in faster thawing. In addition, the rise of thawing voltage also had an excellent inhibitory effect on the drip loss and centrifugal loss of frozen muscle foods (Y. M. Zhang et al., 2019). At a constant thawing voltage, the thawing rate was inversely proportional to the electrode spacing (Y. M. Zhang et al., 2019), possibly because moving ionized air has a greater collision frequency than nonionized air at a smaller electrode spacing, which increases the heat transfer coefficient of the contact surface (He et al., 2013).…”

“…In addition, the rise of thawing voltage also had an excellent inhibitory effect on the drip loss and centrifugal loss of frozen muscle foods (Y. M. Zhang et al., 2019). At a constant thawing voltage, the thawing rate was inversely proportional to the electrode spacing (Y. M. Zhang et al., 2019), possibly because moving ionized air has a greater collision frequency than nonionized air at a smaller electrode spacing, which increases the heat transfer coefficient of the contact surface (He et al., 2013). Zhang and Ding (2020) found that the cooking loss of beef was significantly higher at higher electrode distances than at lower electrode distances, possibly due to the lack of protein denaturation during the HVEFT process.…”

“…For the distance between adjacent needles, Y. M. Zhang et al. (2019) observed that the thawing rate was accelerated by 1.64, 1.71, 1.82, 2.41, and 1.84 times as the needle distances were increased as 4, 5.6, 8, 10.4, and 12 cm, respectively; that is, the thawing rate showed a change trend of accelerating first and then slowing down with increasing needle distance.…”