Characterization of viscoelastic properties of minced beef meat thawed by ohmic and conventional methods

Frozen minced meat samples having fat contents of 2%, 10% and 18% were thawed using different methods (refrigeration thawing at ambient temperature of +4 ℃, under running cold water (+4 ℃) thawing, ohmic thawing for 10, 13 and 16 V/cm). Viscoelastic properties were determined by using rheological tests (oscillation and creep/recovery tests). Storage modulus, loss modulus, complex modulus, loss tangent, dynamic viscosity and complex viscosity values of minced meat samples increased as fat content increased. As frequency value increased, the modulus values of meat samples increased but dynamic and complex viscosity values of the samples decreased. The minced meat samples thawed by different methods had recoverable compliance values. The compliance values of meat samples during creep region can be well characterized by Burgers model. Ohmic thawing can be used as an alternative thawing method since it resulted in similar rheological properties of minced meat samples compared to refrigeration thawing at ambient temperature of +4 ℃ and under running cold water (+4℃) thawing.