Quality assessment of frankfurters produced from fresh vs. frozen/thawed ground beef

In order to evaluate the effect of raw meat's freezing/thawing process on meat products produced from them, frankfurter's quality was monitored. Fresh beef meat was grounded and separated into two lots - the first lot was immediately used in the preparation of frankfurters (G1F), and the other lot was frozen and stored at -18°C for 4 weeks, when it was used in the preparation of the second group of frankfurters (G2F). Physicochemical and technological properties were investigated on fresh (CG-FM) and thawed meat (G-F/TM) samples and the frankfurters made from these samples. Frozen storage significantly affected (p<0.05) moisture, TBA value, instrumental color parameters (L*a*b*), WHC, total pigment, and total heme pigment in the raw meat samples; some frankfurters characteristics, such as moisture, L*(lightness), a* (redness) and b* (yellowness) were affected (p<0.05). However, the differences in the final products' process loss/cooking loss/frying loss and FRP were not significant. The sensory evaluation did not show any significance between the two groups of frankfurters It can be concluded that the frozen storage of minced beef meat for 4 weeks at -18°C and the consequential thawing process (at 4°C for 24h) does not significantly affect the overall acceptability of frankfurters prepared from them. However, effects on the marked changes in instrumental color are apparent.