FROZEN, CHILLED, OR FRESH MEAT

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 140, 7 March 1908, Page 3

FROZEN, CHILLED, OR FRESH MEAT

WHICH 13 BEST? j BRITISH .DOCTOR'S, VERDICT. , .. - Dr. Rideal, D.Sc. Lord, F.1.C.," of Westminister, has' found that' hard-frozen meat is 'quite,-as nutritive and quite; as digestible \ as meat or ' chilled meat. Ho has, written a report qf his researches'for Messrs. Weddcl and Co., who have published it in pamphlet , form.., The report is reproduced in & recent number of the " Agricultural Gazette " of Now South Wales. Dr.'; Riddel! says Some years ago .J; • had an opportunity of ascertaining' whcthcri ' the - hard-freezing - to' which a ■ number of samples of Queensland meat had been subjected influenced .their digestibility and value as-food,;, and from the results of. that inquiry 1 was satisfied that, both with regard'to'digestibility and for the : preparation of soup 3. or beef tea,' the . hard-frozen; meat from Queensland was. of intrinsically; .the aamo value: as' that which had been chilled ■ for :a '• short .period \;or freshly : killed. l'or the experiments -three shins and', three _por-. tions of steak wore employed.;. The analysis • of the lean moat gave in percentages

For Beef Tea.In/order ; to ascertain'whether the mode of .preserving affected the-suitability'of the. meat for making'; beef-tea,' some' analyses of tho hot-water extracts .wore made.;: ' Olio 'pound of;;.the lean- meat.iof the shins'.'was •mincod, digested!. in a covered, jacketed saucepan; witkia- pint of; water, kept'simmering hours,':'and then ■ strained, ■through mifelin/. Tiie undissolved 'residue was pressed and':weighed in the moist state. Tho strained, beefrtea■ was allowed to stand wa . cojtl -place, till the'fat separated ; this was: then i removed and weighed.': 'The sodi- • ment • that deposited was also collected and 1 weighed.; it consisted mainly of coagulated albumen: v The . liquid,' on cooling,, formed nearlyclear jellies, tho Argentine '.- samples . ... about equally- firm,' and- tho English_ of decidedly less consistency. They had in each, case'a natural acidity,■ and the odoui and • taste were normal. -.The quantities obtained: were as ifollow l " ; ' ' Va.lr.e'ofbeef tca ''. Argentina '- 'Argentine English, ■.^obtained—j : - — - Chilled Frozen ■ V . -Cubic contimeters ■: "580 ~..\ * Glo' 6C:5 " Fluid ounces ..., . ... 20.1 -■ 21.5 ' ' 23.4 v > F&tsoparatedTrhen.cold,' < f • grammes ... ' ...' ~... '4.5 ..&0 \ 3,0 - Equal to, per ccnt. • 1.0 . 1.3' 0.65 Eesiduo ,of.undissolved . . . >; ... v/ .-.:U02.;-.': lOoz. ',v ,lloz. • : ' Equal to, per cent. .'.. 66.0 - 62.5 • 65.8 Sediment, mainly coagu-- ' ,Utedalbumen, grammes 15. -■ -9. • 10. Equal to, por cent./ ;.. 3.3 1.9 2,2 . "The dietetic value of ..these extracts," says the doctor, "will depend upon the quantity an'd-quality of 'tbo dissolved, portions. -From' the percentage of-undissolved- rosidue! ■ • it can 'bo inferred jthat. . the ' hard-frozon : ■ -samplo hasyieldecl up -the. greatest "amount of useful material, Awhile, the chilled and,Eng--.•lish Samples show identical'quantities cxtrac- . ted.;",' On' the.: beef; ri teas, to,. a. ohomical-analysis,, no difference worth comment .was founcj •in the three , samples, as i the figures are very, clos9-and become:almost.; idontjpal when an; allowance is made for', the variations in' volume. The following are, the percentages obtained:—. .. - . ■ >■■■■'. Argentine Argentino' English . ' | ; .-. Chilled Frozen - • Watflr ■ ... OG.CS £5.52 95.17 '' Mineralmatter " ... ,0.11-. ..0.4-2 , 0.48 . , / .Organic solids u ' 3.53 3.C6 .. 3.35 '.; Moc.ro ' ;ioooomoo :Total nitrogen j 0.53 V 1 ' ■ 0.51 6.55' ' Eatio at nitrogen to . / ' 1 ; ' i organic solids. .... .Ito 6 Ito G ~ ltou, I "Since the .ratio'; of! nitrogen to total' solids! 'is the same in chilled iand frozen shins as that in the fresh one, no hydrolysis or putre- • factivo' change has occurred in the preserved samples. Even a slight : decomposition would . disturbed th'e nitrogen ratio. That the gdlatino. and albuminoids in the frozen ' and> chilled meats had not -been degraded by '■refrigeration, was shown'.by .the : consistency / '• : of-the.jellies, as already.'mentioned':"'.'. , ' Phosphotuhgstic. acid, which throws down, in addition to the albuminoids, a considerable proportion of the meat 'basos,' gavo an equal-precipitate with ; chillcd and 1 frozon ■meat, and a slightly .higher' one with Eng.bsh. ... ■- The Besf Steaks. , :■ ■■ ■ l 'To: tcst tho' digestibility of the three beef steaks—-frozen, chilled, and fresh—tho steaks .. were weighed and stripped of their fat. Then 20 grammes of .finely-minced meat, of each : steak was digested with 20 c.c. 0f,.'5 solution ..of-B.P;" pepsinyso c.c. distilled ..water,': and : I'c'.c.. N 10, HOIi, at;a. tepiperature .of 3S degroiss C. for. an: hour. The undigested residue '.vas filtered off,-carefully washed, dried and ' treated .with successive quantities' of '-benzine';'to -'remove.'.'any remaimng'ifat.' The residue was^tho quantity.:of:undigested matter in 20 : grammes "of meat.'V Thpse' quaiiti--1 ties,'.' expressed in percentages; :',wero' as fol- . low:—' v; ,r '\'/Z'-". : ; Arcontine Argentine English \ ; ■!.■■■'. Chilled •. 'Frozen .... . * ;'Nitrogenons organic - • " • •: ; ■ .ffiaiter'undigeßted^' i: 38.01- V.-..30.1i' " 35.92 -Digested •'...61.09-,-»•; ;«• 60.69-''- « C3,<B . "The'-tenderness of- 'meat'-'which , has been ■ frozen,"-says tho ' doctor,' "has often been noticed, : and'has'been'attributeiV to the,slow - continuous action- of the "sarcalactio acidj while. tho : loosening of the 'intermuscular tis- . Bue prbmotes.'rapid decompositioh. , In these ' 'sample's" this" solvent' has ' not caused anv increase in tho digestibility of tho "fibrin, nor havo ahy signs: of incipient decomposition 1 ib.eeii','detected • in': either . tho frozon or the chjlled steak." , . Does Frozen Mutton Shrink, in Cooking? .: It has frequently been alleged in the past," says Dr. Itidcal, " that frozen meat is more wasteful than English, that it dimfinishes' in weight.more in'proportion,during , the cooking .process, »has more refuse parts which cannot bo consumed, and' less -dripping and gravy. '.The'so objections, have been.'re- ', futed from time to time, and were' specially reported, .on in the ;' Hospital' in ISSG, dealing with "New -'Zealand':niutton;. 'Since that date no further tests have been brought to my. notico. - I . thereforb repeated these baking tests with legs of Australian lamb and mutton,' and followed tho detailed methods. of baking in every particular as in the former : My results are as-fol-low:— ; " ■', . t : : Welsh Austro- Eng-; Austra- '. ... i , lamb "lian ..lish ', lian ■ • ' : lamb mutton nnittoc ■: -Ib.'ozA lb. oz. lb; 02. Ib, oz: Weight when delivered ■■"'i 15 ;. 5-V4 .8 10 8 0' •••' „ . ' „' taken from... , , ; ovon' .... . ...-4 2J 415 613 i 6 71 of slices Guitablo.' . '• •• . . : ■ . . lor.hospilal diet r . ...■ 2 13V ,3- 63 ,4 :. 4J-. 4,\3 ' .: ofbonoand.wasto Jl .05 1,-lS 2 4 , 111 VPurobono ... ... 0.9 08| r2' 0 13- '■ Dripping ■:... 0 41 0 '4j \Oll2 1 ,0i - ";Gravyindisliaftercarvingo, 14 :0 S! 0 oi 03i • „ under dripping ... 0 0j • 0 ( '0l 0. 0i ~ 0 ,0j ".Tile closeness in the -results of the English' and Australian mutton is remarkable, As..in tho " Hospital" experiment with: New . Zealand nnittop, ; no' difference can bo discovercd pf.-any liiaterial signifieanco. In- • ' stead ,of more waste, less dripping, and less iri-avv, tho colonial produco in this case had slightly less waste, more dripping, and .mort - gravy, • togfithor with a trifle greater weight slices 'suitable ■ for ' diet, ■ although ■ the •' nrigin:il'freight was one' bunco le3S than the ' English-joint. It would; bo unfair to mention such slight advantages wore it " hot "that in each case the . differences arc -go' small' as to show that. the' two joints

are/ practically identical in every respect. As ;a matter •of fact, the cook who carried out . my instructions believed that the two joints of'lamb were. foreign, and . that-the two largo joints were English mutton,'while the . slices when prepared for table were indistinguishable by the consumers (in a private boarding-house in London). The consumers numbered about fifteen persons, who pronounced all the kinds to bo of excellent quality, but invariably expressed a preference for sample ' ll'. (Australian ' lamb)'. From the abovo figures I havo calculated the percentages of loss in the oven, the amount of useful slices, and the amount of dripping, as shown in the following table:— •' "Welsh Australian English Australian . lamb lamb - muttou mutton liossinovon 15.8 9-7 . 20.6 ' 24.6 Useful slices 57.6 ; 65.0 49.6 t'l-1 Dripping ...; 6.0' 5.4 8.5 ' 12.0 Is it Digestible? ; . "The tests as to digestibility were carried out on the sanio lines as'those used in the beef tests, and gave the following results:— Welsh Australian English Australian lamb lamb mutton .mutton "Water, per c'fc. 58.55 57.65 67.79 67.33 Fat ... ... 4.11 .. 6.62 7.53 9.68 Organic mat- '' * tor and aEBO- ■ . 60ciatodmin- i ■ eral matter... 37.34 . 35.73 34.63 33.C0 , ioo.od iro.co aco.oo . moo ,' : NitrqßSDOua ■ .. ; organic mat- ' ter digested -19.C1- . 15.25. 18.20 , . 12.40 " Theso results show a very close.reserablance in the\ amount of' water in the cooked samplei; and-confirm the fact already noticed that the . amount of dissem: irioted fat is larger in the Australian mutton than in the others. _ It is satisfactory to find £he general opinion confirmed that no incipient decomposition or' hydrolysis takes place under cold storage, while-these further series of tests also fully support the favourable conclusions arrived at as tho result of previous experiments, by further illustrating "the satisfactory food values , of frozen mutton and lamb:'' .! . • Appropriate to; Paris Congress. This report of Dr. Rideal reminds one of a remark made recently by Mr. Gilruth, our chief Government veterinarian, that tests had shown frozen meat to be more digestiblf than, fresh m'eat, but that the tests/were not quite conclusive, bccauso the meats compared wero not all'raised under the same conditions. The question is. one that comes wpll within the. scopeof the forthcoming Paris Refrigeration and the absence of, any sign of special'researches to report to that congress is regrettable. A 1 different times, however, the New 'Zealand freezing' companies hare collected much valuable information, with which Mr. Reakes (assistant chief veterinarian), who wil. shortly reach Europe, will no doubt very capably deal. '• ' .

THE FARM J V / j ■ • . — *- ; NEWS • AND NOTES FOE T FROZEN, CHILLED, OR FRESH MEAT WHICH 13 BEST? . . . BRITISH.DOCTOR'S VERDICT. , .. - v ■ : Dr: Rideal, D.Sc. Lord, F.I.C., of "Westminister, has' found that ' hard-frozen meat is' quitflas nutritive and quite; as' digestible , \ as fresh or ' chilled meat. Ho has, written a report qf his researches'for Messrs. 'vVWeddel and Co., who have published it in pamphlet , form.., The report is reproduced in & recent number of the " Agricultural Gazette " of Now South Wales. . , ■ Dr.' Riddel! saysSome years ago .J; • had an opportunity of ascertaining'.v/hcthcri ' the - hard-freezing -to' which a .number of samples of Queensland meat had heen subjected influenced .their digestibility and i value asfood,;.and from the results of.that inquiry 1 was satisfied that, both with rev gard' to 'digestibility and for the : preparation of soiips:-or beef tea,the-, hard-frozen; nieat from Queensland was. of -intrinsically;.the aamo value: as' that which had been chilled for a short: period (or freshly : killed, l'or the experiments three shins and', three _por-. tions of steak wore employed.;. The analysis • of the lean moat gave in percentages :— ; \ ; Beef Shies.' '/Beef Bleaks. \ . 'Argentine |jjj£. , Froz- ■ ■' Chil-Froz- . ■ Chilled cn : . ]e|J en 'Watar' 71.32 li.Si 75.66 - 66.28 .74® 64.47 ■Fat,;. 1.21 :.0.6S 1.11-9.16 8.50 18.01 ' Meat fibro extracv, tives andassoci".-. v. 1 »• . ' ' : , • aiefl mineral;. matter .24.41 .24.26 23.23 .21.54 22.26 2-2.40 ■' ' " lOD.O: lOO.Cfl lOOXO 100.00100.C0103.00. :"-'Tobil'-3.34 848 -2.EE 2.36 2.73'