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The f a i r l y recent survey sponsored by t h e USDA and National Livestock and Meat Board indicated t h a t 78% of the consumers would r e j e c t buying m e a t already frozen, although, 87% of t h e consw7lers do f reeze meat once they get it home. Another survey by L i s t e r and Branson (1966) indicated t h a t 82-88$ of t h e homemakers would purchase frozen lamb r o a s t s only if they were avai lable i n t h a t form. Also the re have been some r a t h e r cos t ly , unsuccessful attempts t o merchandise f rozen meat by successful corporations. I r r e g z d l e s s of these two points , t h e optimism i s high throughout t h e meat processing and a l l i e d indus t r i e s regarding t h e current and fu tu re po ten t i a l success of f rozen meat. This optimism i s due t o a number of i t e m s .

1.

2 .

3 .

4.

5.

6 .

The t o t a l quant i ty of f rozen food and convenience foods has expanded r a the r markedly t h e l a s t f i v e t o t e n years. Most of t h e expansion has been in; f r u i t s , vegetables, prepared m e a l s such as TV dinners, and f rozen poultry. The homemaker has t r i e d and accepted these items r a the r wel l .

There a re a g rea t e r number of home f r e e z e r s and combina- t i o n f r eeze r - r e f r ige ra to r s than i n t h e pas t .

The processing, d i s t r i b u t i o n and retailer equipment and technology has improved which should make f o r a g rea t e r q u a l i t y cont ro l and more a t t r a c t i v e products f o r t he consumer.

Port ion cont ro l cuts , cen t r a l processing and f reez ing all f i t together na tura l ly . The industry i s rap id ly increasing t h e number of cent ra l ized processing and por t ion cont ro l un i t s , with f reez ing t h e next s tep. of t r a i n i n g meat c u t t e r s and providing processing equipment and space w i l l be paStia3ly eliminated by t h e combination of these areas.

The r e t a i l e r problems

A more e f f i c i e n t d i s t r i b u t i o n w i l l be e f fec ted through rout ing product where i t ' s most demanded and l e s s product weight shipped.

There are many i so l a t ed cases i n which frozen meat i s being successful ly merchandised, both a t r e t a i l and f o r t h e HRI t rade , however, these are mostly on loca l ized operations.

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The key t o merchandising frozen meat obviously, i s qua l i t y control of a consumer acceptable product. The reason most housewives give f o r not accepting frozen meat i s t h a t they cannot t r u s t the qua l i t y of product frozen. This i s one good area i n which the processors have a chance t o develop an image and a reputa t ion f o r a given product.

I t ' s accepted by those associated with frozen meat work t h a t f reeze processing w i l l be an EVOLUTIONARY not a revolutionary process. Convenience s to re s today merchandise predominantly f rozen meat products and it i s the opinion of many t h a t convenience s t o r e s w i l l be t h e inter im s t ep between now and t h e major acceptance of f rozen r e t a i l cu t s of meat i n our supermarket chain s to re s . We a l s o know t h a t convenience s to re s a re rap id ly coming i n t o exis tence and are popular.

Now, t h e question might a l s o be asked why frozen lamb? We would a l l agree t h a t lamb today i s solnewhat of a spec ia l ty item or gourmet food. The consumption of lamb has been decreasing per c a p i t a r a t h e r cons is ten t ly the pas t f e w years. Two th ings can be done through t h e merchandising of f rozen lamb t h a t might reverse t h i s consumption pa t t e rn . The f i rs t and most important i s t h a t t he market f o r lamb would be g r e a t l y extended by merchan- d i s ing a por t ion of t h e product frozen. L e t ' s not worry about our t h ree na jor metropolitan a reas t h a t consume most of t h e lamb, i.e., t h e New York, Ch iceo , and Los Angeles areas. Less than 10% of t h e s t o r e s i n Kansas ca r ry lamb with any degree of r egu la r i ty . O u r v i s i t s with r e t a i l e r s throughout t h e s t a t e ind ica te t h a t they have numer- ous c a l l s f o r lamb. However, they do not maintain a supply of lamb simply because they cannot merchandise t h e e n t i r e carcass or even c e r t a i n wholesale cu t s . The use of f rozen lamb would increase t h e shelf l i f e up t o six weeks or more and t h e retailer would purchase only those r e t a i l c u t s which had been demanded i n t h e pas t . It would not take much of an extension of t h e current market t o have a tremendous impact on t h e ove ra l l consumption of lamb. The second f a c t o r i s t h a t c e n t r a l processing and f reez ing w i l l e f f e c t a t i g h t e r cont ro l on qua l i ty , merchandising and t h e d i s t r i b u t i o n conditions. The e f f i c i ency of d i s t r i b u t i o n w i l l be due t o t h e d i s t r i b u t i o n of those c u t s a t t h e loca t ion i n which t h e r e i s m a x i m u m demand for them.

L e t ' s consider t h e mid-western a rea as an example.

A major point t o consider when discussing t h e f e a s i b i l i t y of merchan- d i s ing f rozen lamb or any m e a t products i s one of whether t o merchandise i n an opaque box or i n a t ransparent f i l m . The most convenient but not t he most economical way would be t o merchandise f rozen meat i n a very a t t r a c t i v e box. This i s being done by a f e w processors very successful ly i n p a r t s of t h e country. One of our major suppl ie rs has made t h e coment t h a t no frozen food i s a t t r a c t i v e ; therefore , it d l should be placed i n a box fo r re ta i l sale. Contrary t o t h i s , however, i s t h e f a c t t h a t t h e consumer has come t o purchase f r e s h meat i n a t ransparent f i l m , therefore , l i k e s t o see and evaluate what she buys, although may know nothing about it. Again many i n industry have t h e opinion t h a t t h e c u t s w i l l have t o be i n a f i l m i n i t i a l l y , then la te r moved t o a boxed form.

O u r work at t h e current t i m e i s based on the assumption t h a t most of t h e products w i l l have t o be placed i n a f i l m . However, w e will t e s t

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market some time t h i s next yeas product both i n a f i l m and i n a box. a lso have t h e opinion t h a t c e r t a i n lamb i t e m s may be more easy t o box than some of t h e other red meats. Obviously, placing the product i n a box would eliminate many of our current color problems.

We

Before discussing some of our spec i f ic s tud ies on frozen lamb I would l i k e t o recognize some of t h e agencies f o r helping t o make t h i s study possible. These w e : the American Sheep Producers Council, t h e National Live Stock and Meat Board, and many commercial f i r m s .

I would also l i k e t o acknowledge some of my colleagues t h a t have been most instrumental i n t h i s program: D r . Don Kropf, J!k. Bob Smith, M r . Melvin H u n t and Dr. Keith Lind from our department then and I would also add t h a t w e have personnel involved from the Departments of Foods & Nutrit ion, Mechanical Engineering, S t a t i s t i c s and Economics.

The i n i t i a l study I w i l l report on involves t h e use of lamb l o i n chops. There were f i v e major vaxiables studied. (S l ide 1) F i r s t , th ree qua l i ty l e v e l s ( s l i g h t l y abundant-moderate , small-sl ight and devoid- p r a c t i c a l l y devoid marbling). Second, two freezing temperatures (-4OOF, l i q u i d nitrogen and -159 i n a B l a s t ) . Third, two display case temperatures (-20% and - 0 9 ) 4th, 2 films (oxygen permeable versus oxygen impermeable) and last two types of l i g h t s over t h e d isp lay case (cool white beam f luorescent versus incandescent holophane pr i smi t ic with a ref lectance f i x t u r e . Both were at 100 foot candles. Sl ide 2 shows the display case and l i g h t i n g arrangement. S l ide 3 shows t h e B & L 600 reflectance Spectrophotometer which w a s used as an object ive color measure. Weight and color ( a v i s u a l and an objective measure by ref lectance with a ref lectance spectrophotometer) were obtained before and after packaging f r e s h and frozen at 0, 1, 7, 21, and 42 days post f reezing and after unwrapping and thawing. weight of t h e chops. Freezing at -40%’ improved both the visual. color and t h e ref lectance readings. The d isp lay temperature of -209 resu l ted i n improved v i s u a l scores a t 0, 1 and 42 days with higher color ref lectance a t selected wave lengths but no difference i n the 474/525 and 572/525 r a t i o s . f i l m improved t h e v i s u a l co lor score i n f r e s h and i n f rozen chops at 1 and 42 days. This w a s a l s o v e r i f i e d by the ref lectance spectrophotometer. Incandescent l i g h t i n g caused t h e improved v i s u a l score i n t h e frozen chops and also t h i s w a s noted by t h e 474/525 ref lectance r a t i o s a t 7, 21 and 42 days.

None of t h e var iab les studied affected The q u a l i t y levels did not a f f e c t t h e color s t a b i l i t y .

Packaging i n oxygen permeable

O w s tudies with Home Economics are not d i f f e r e n t than some of the other work t h a t has been reported. That is, e s s e n t i a l l y there i s no e f f e c t of f reezing on t h e tenderness, juiciness , f l a v o r and overa l l acceptab i l i ty of lamb as compared t o t h e f r e s h unfrozen lamb. The water holding capacity and the percent t o t a l moisture was not affected by f reez ing by any of t h e methods a t t h i s t i m e . An i n t e r e s t i n g side l i g h t at th i s t i m e , i s t h a t i n an attempt t o come up with cookery d i rec t ions f o r our t e s t marketing study we found t h a t you cannot use a given t i m e per pound t o cook the frozen product. For example i f it takes 4-1/2 hours t o cook t h e 5 l b . l e g you cannot cut the t i m e i n half, t o 2-1/4 hours, t o cook a 2-1/2 l b . r o a s t . I th ink we have a l o t t o l e a n i n t h i s area and many of our cookbooks could use some updating i n t h a t regard.

Another of our s tud ies has involved product temperature i n the disp lay case and what happens a t d i f f e r e n t d i sp lay case temperatures t o include t h e def ros t cycle. Display case temperature and degree of f i l m

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permeabili ty appeax t o be c r i t i c a l parameters f o r meat t o keep i t s bloom and a t t r a c t i v e appearance i n t h e r e t a i l case. We've held some beef i n our l a b f o r 6 weeks packaged i n f i l m with a very a t t r a c t i v e color being maintained all during t h a t time. This w a s i n a display case held at -20%'. We switched t h i s same product over t o a case held a t 09 and it took about 2 days f o r a r a t h e r drzmatic change i n co lor . A s we've looked a t some of t h i s a l i t t l e b i t c lo se r we f ind t h a t t he re i s a vas t difference between the ambient case temperature and the ac tua l product temperature. ( S l i d e 4) r i g h t at the rack l e v e l of t h e case, on t h e bottom s ide of t h e package, on the t o p s ide of t h e package and then an inch and a half above the package of f rozen meat. Surpris ingly as it may seem temperature between t h e f i l m and meat on t h e top s ide of t h e package may run as much a s 15 t o 20° higher than the ambient case temperature. This w a s a l i t t l e s t a r t l i n g , we knew t h a t it might be a l i t t l e higher but not t h a t high. W e a t t r i b u t e p a r t of t h i s t o the rad ian t heat from the l i g h t source above the case. On the bottom side of t he package, however, t he re i s no l i g h t , but some r e f l e c t i o n and the re was about a 10' rise i n t h e temperature. A t t h i s loca t ion we assumed the product might be t h e same as t h e ambient temperature. Meat, t h e same as many other products, w i l l absorb energy from a grea t many sources. (S l ide 5) This s l i d e w i l l give you an ind ica t ion of product temperature i n t h e case with an ambient temperature minus 15. You can see t h a t a s t h e case goes through the def ros t cycle the air temperature moves up t o about 509. Also on t o p of t h e product you ge t a reading of about +22% although it drops off r a the r sharply as it comes out of t h e def ros t cycle. Please note t h a t w e ' r e t a lk ing roughly about an hour and a ha l f t o go through the def ros t cycle. c r i t i c a l time i s during t h e def ros t cycle and t h e t i m e t h a t it takes t o br ing t h e product temperature back down. co lor change f o r up t o 6 weeks under these conditions. (S l ide 6) Now, as w e take a look a t t h i s next s l i d e the ambient temperature i s about -4aF. The top s ide of t h e product i s up at about +15 and ac tua l ly as it goes through t h e def ros t cycle t h e product approaches +25O which i s f a i r l y c lose t o t h e thaw point , i n f a c t i f t h e product were very f a r up i n t h e case obviously the top s ide would thaw. Under these conditions the product temperature comes down more slowly a f t e r t he def ros t cycle than a t t he lower o r -15%' temperature. The next s l i d e ( 7 ) shows t h e temperature cycles with the l i g h t o f f . The temperature r e l a t ionsh ips a t t h e various loca t ions are t h e same, only 3 - 5' lower than with the l i g h t s on. (S l ide 8) as r ap id ly after def ros t ing with t h e l i g h t on. A rule of thumb i s t h a t l i g h t s cause about 1/3 - 1/Z0 r i s e i n temperature for every 10 foot candles.

We have checked the temperature

I t ' s our f ee l ing t h a t t h e

We 've maintained product with l i t t l e

The product does not drop temperature

The tes t marketing phase of t he study was r ecen t ly completed, however, t h e da t a i s not analyzed. W e conducted t h i s study i n Manhattan i n two of our supermarkets f o r 3 weeks. It i s safe t o say j u s t by looking over t h e results at t h i s time t h a t t he reac t ion t o f rozen lamb i n Manhattan was very favorable . I n f a c t , favorable enough t h a t t h e markets have zsked us t o produce addi t iona l product so t h a t they might r e t a i l it. Ve were merchandising rack chops, l o i n chops, 2-1/2 l b s . boneless l egs , 5 l b s . boneless l e g s and 4 l b s . shoulders. We attempted t o h i t these weights spec i f i ca l ly because t h e d i r ec t ions which were handed out t o t he consumer had spec i f i c cooking t i m e s and temperatures. The hoilsewife i s not going t o i n s e r t a thermometer after t h e r o a s t has been thawed but before completely cooked. We did suggest t h a t they cook t h e r o a s t s from the frozen s t a t e . The only consumer objection t h a t we came up with thus fa r apparently w a s t he pr ice of t he lamb. I th ink t h a t we might have had the same comment regarding any study with beef or pork.

62.

There are many unanswered questions regarding display case tempera- tures, f reez ing temperatures, as well as f reez ing methods, gas permeabili ty of t h e various f i lms, and use of t h e f i lm versus box. Certainly we haven't c o w up with d l t h e answers and these are all challenging and i n t e r e s t i n g areas are yet t o be researched.

I n s m a s y , f i r s t the re i s n ' t any question i n my mind but what f rozen meat i s here and w i l l be i n t h c fu ture . The industry i n t e r e s t i s f a n t a s t i c . There are many new processing p l<mts being b u i l t r i g h t now involv- i n g t h e frozen meat aspect e i t h e r f o r re ta i l or f o r t h e hote l , res taurant or i n s t i t u t i o n a l l e v e l . Second, we are way behind i n t h e f i e l d of meats as far as t h e convenience food market goes. Our approach i s t o simplify t h e prepara- t i o n and d i r ec t ions f o r t h e housewife. We w i l l never educate the housewife t o use a thermometer, so t h i s means t h a t we might as wel l recognize t h a t f a c t and t h a t w e have t o t a l k about t ine and temperature. To do t h i s , t h i s also means uniformity of s ize , weight, shape and qua l i ty . This means c e n t r z l processing and f reez ing t i e s i n extremely wel l . Third, r o a s t s are of l i t t l e problem, they c m be processed and made t o look very a t t r a c t i v e a t r e t a i l . Chops and s teaks are more d i f f i c u l t t o process a t t r a c t i v e l y but t h i s problem can be overcome. Apparently based on some our preliminary work pork w i l l be t h e e a s i e s t t o f reeze and maintain color , lamb second and beef t he most d i f f i - c u l t t o work with. This may be due t o t h e amount of pigment i n the muscle which i s obviously r e l a t e d t o ove ra l l bloom or color . There are a l s o muscle d i f fe rences within species.

(S l ide 9) L a s t , i f w e take a look a t t h e changes t h a t have occurred i n t h e meat industry f reez ing ce r t a in ly f i t s i n t o t h e p ic ture .

SLIDE #I-

Qual i ty Three Levels

Freezing Liq. Nitrogen, B l a s t

Freeze Temp -4OOC - 26 OC

Case Temp -29OC -21OC

Film O2 Perm. 02 Imperm.

Case Light Fluore scent Incandescent

t-

22

ow

L-

63

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n

L

3 c Q

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66.

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THE CHA1u;ING MEAT INDUSTRY

1. Centralized - Volume - F u l l l i n e

2. Decentralization - Specialized K i l l & Chill

3. Saw Ready - Cryovac Who1esaL.e Cuts

4. Oven Ready - Reta i l Cuts

5. Frozen Re ta i l Cuts

6. Convenience Foods

DAVE CRAMER: Thank you Harold. It looks l i k e you fo lks at Kansas S ta t e are going t o do a l o t t o help the packers, purveyors and so on t o solve some of t h e i r problems when they get i n t o t h i s frozen product business, The next paper i s by Gary Smith. Gary w a s on the staff at Washington Sta te -- he took about a three-year leave of absence and went down t o Texas A&M t o work with Zerle Cwpenter, t o do a Fh.D., and he worked on lamb for h i s program. I n t h e true t r a d i t i o n of Texas he did big th ings down there . H e cut neazly 600 lambs down there and got c u t a b i l i t y da t a on them: he did organoleptic evaluations on about two-thirds of them or about 350 lambs i n a cooperative study with Texas A&M and Karl Hoke's group with the ARS and Ned Tyler ' s boys with Standardization Branch. The work t h a t Gary i s going t o report on today i s t h e p a l a t a b i l i t y s tud ies t h a t he did with lamb down i n Texas. Gary

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