Effects of Aging Period Prior to Freezing on Meat Quality of Hanwoo Muscle (Longissimus dorsi)

This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of the aging period prior to freezing on the meat quality of Hanwoo longissimus dorsi (LD) muscle. Three different combinations of aging and freezing periods (0/90, 20/70, and 40/50) were examined using LD muscle at 24 h postmortem under an identical storage time of 90 d. The pH and lightness slightly increased with increasing aging period. However, there were no significant (p > 0.05) differences in redness and yellowness. The solitary freezing treatment (0/90) had the significantly (p < 0.05) lowest moisture content. The un-aged treatment had a significantly (p < 0.05) higher total loss than the aged treatments due to an increase in thaw drip loss. The aging significantly improved the myofibrillar fragmentation index and shear force of Hanwoo LD muscle (p < 0.05). In addition, the aged treatments produced a higher flavor, tenderness, juiciness, and overall acceptability relative to un-aged treatment. However, there was no significant (p > 0.05) difference in shear force and sensorial properties between 20 and 40 d aging prior to freezing. Therefore, 20 d aging prior to freezing may be a sufficiently effective strategy to improve the tenderness and sensorial properties of Hanwoo LD muscle