Course Title: Food Technology & Safety
Lesson Title: Preserving Red Meat, Poultry, and Fish
TEKS Addressed in Lesson: 130.13 (c) 2A, 4A, 4C
Lesson Objectives:
The student will be able to:
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2.
3.
4.
Define preservation as it applies to red meat, poultry, and fish.
Identify and discuss the importance of preserving red meat, poultry, and fish.
Identify and discuss methods of preserving red meat, poultry, and fish.
Identify and discuss factors to consider when selecting a preservation method.
Tools and Equipment
1. 1 piece of red meat, poultry, or fish recently removed from the package
2. 1 piece of red meat, poultry, or fish that has been left out for several days and spoiled
3. PowerPoint Presentation: Preserving Red Meat, Poultry, and Fish
Key Terms / Vocabulary
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8.
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Preservation
Spoilage
Contamination
Physical Methods of Preservation
Chemical Methods of Preservation
Microbial Methods of Preservation
Hermetically sealing
Irradiation
Permeability
Fermentation
Protocol
Interest Approach/Anticipatory Set
1. Show students the two pieces of red meat, poultry, or fish and have them compare and
contrast the two.
2. Question: Which piece would you rather consume? Why?
3. Discuss student responses.
4. Question: How long will red meat, poultry, or fish stay fresh without any attempts to
preserve it?
This lesson was developed in partial fulfilment of the Texas Education Agency Educational
Excellence Project.
© Texas Education Agency, 2014
5. Have students guess how long the spoiled piece of meat was left out to spoil and discuss
them.
6. Question: Why is it important to have access to a supply of high quality, convenient and
safe meat and meat products?
7. List on the board the benefits of having access to meat and meat product.
8. Because fresh meat is so perishable, preserving meat, poultry and fish makes it more
available and reduces loss associated with spoilage. Today we are going to discuss
methods of preserving meat and meat products.
Teaching Plan and Strategy / Presentation of New Material
Using the PowerPoint presentation as a guide, teach the material allowing time for
discussion on each slide.
1. What is Preservation?
a. The use of a process to allow a substance or food to keep its useful properties
for a longer than normal period (Seperich, 1998, p. 6)
b. Accompanied by creating an unfavorable environment for the growth of
microorganisms, controlling certain enzyme activity within the meat, and
prevention of chemical oxidation that leads to rancidity
2. Why is Preservation Important?
a. Spoilage
i. The natural decay that occurs due to processes in the meat itself or
contamination by and subsequent growth of microorganisms
ii. Results in undesirable odors and flavors
iii. Preserving meat slows spoilage
b. Meat is preserved primarily from microorganisms so sanitation is critical
i. Shelf life can be extended by minimizing the number of microorganisms
that contact and contaminate a product
ii. Meat inspection standards and industry sanitation practices extend
shelf life by reducing potential contamination
c. Question: What are the most common sources of contamination of fresh
meat?
i. Slaughter facility – hide and hooves, contents of the digestive tract
ii. Workers and equipment
iii. Time of preparation for retail sale – cutting wholesale cuts into retail
cuts
iv. In the home as consumers handle the meat
d. Question: What are the most common sources of contamination for cured
meats?
i. Recontamination from the environment, equipment and workers
following heat processing
This lesson was developed in partial fulfilment of the Texas Education Agency Educational
Excellence Project.
© Texas Education Agency, 2014
ii. In the home as consumers handle to meat
3. What are common methods of preserving red meat, poultry, and fish?
a. Three broad categories
i. Physical
1. Emphasizes the control of temperature and regulation of
moisture
ii. Chemical
1. Involves the addition of chemical preservatives
iii. Microbial
1. Focuses on utilizing microorganisms in, on, or added to the
meat rather than on external control factors
b. Physical Methods of Preservation
i. Heating/Canning
1. Used to inactivate or at least severely impair the function of
microorganisms
2. Pasteurized/commercially sterile meat product
a. Pasteurized products typically reach an internal
temperature of 71˚C (160˚F)
i. Require refrigeration to inhibit spoilage
b. Commercially sterile foods are heated to 121˚C (250˚F)
for varying lengths of time
i. Are shelf stable
3. Cooking before consumption
4. Canned foods are preserved by hermetically sealing (preventing
the escape of air) the product in a container and destroying,
through the application of heat, those microorganisms capable
of spoilage (Romans, Costello, Carlson, Greaser, & Jones, 2001,
p. 707)
5. Canning is the second most common method of meat
preservation
6. Severe heat can result in some destruction of nutrients, but
overall, there is little change in nutrient composition of meat
due to normally employed heating procedures
ii. Cooling
1. Used to slow or limit the growth of microorganisms --- the lower
the temperature, the slower the microbial growth
2. Shelf life estimates (varies by species, level of hygiene practiced,
equipment used):
a. Properly refrigerated and packaged retail meat –
approximately 72 hours
This lesson was developed in partial fulfilment of the Texas Education Agency Educational
Excellence Project.
© Texas Education Agency, 2014
b. Ground meat – about 24 hours
c. Vacuum packaged and refrigerated meat –
approximately 3 weeks
d. Vacuum packaged and refrigerated cured meat – about
2 months
iii. Freezing
1. Most common method of preserving fresh (uncured) meat
a. Mostly done by consumers after purchase
b. Not as popular with cured meat as with fresh meat
because cured meat is more susceptible to oxidative
and texture changes when frozen
c. Cooked meats tend to develop off-flavors when frozen
2. Meat freezes at about -2˚C (28˚F)
3. Freezing does not kill microorganisms but inactivates meat
enzymes and inhibits the growth of spoilage organisms
4. Recommended temperature for frozen meat is -18˚C (0˚F)
5. Four important phases: pre-freezing (quality of the meat and
preparing it for freezing – i.e. size and shape of an item and
packaging), freezing, frozen storage (potentially the most
damaging phase to the quality of the meat; growth of ice
crystals can occur resulting in structural damage), and thawing
(outside may be at ambient temperature while the inside is still
frozen; potential for microbial growth on the surface)
6. Foods with lower water content freeze better and will retain
more quality after freezing (less cellular damage due to ice
crystals)
iv. Drying
1. Removal of water to the point that available water is not
sufficient enough to support microbial growth
2. Extremely lean meat is the most desirable for drying
3. Often involves a cooking step before drying
4. Drying may be accomplished by:
a. Low-temperature drying (less than 120˚F)
b. High-temperature drying (greater than 200˚F)
c. Freeze-drying
d. Salting
v. Irradiation
1. Meat is exposed to a controlled amount of radiation for a
specific time to destroy spoilage organisms
This lesson was developed in partial fulfilment of the Texas Education Agency Educational
Excellence Project.
© Texas Education Agency, 2014
2. Pork and poultry were first meats to be approved by the USDA
and FDA to be irradiated
vi. Packaging
1. Packaging is critical to overall preservation process; meat must
be properly packaged after processing for preservation
techniques to be successful
2. Packaging is most often something used to enclose the meat in
order to protect the desirable properties inherent or imparted
to it (Cassens, 1994)
3. Packaging protects products against deteriorative effects
including discoloration, off-flavor and off-odor development,
nutrient loss, texture changes, pathogenicity and other
measureable factors (Zhou, Xu, & Liu, 2010, p. 123)
4. Canning and radiation techniques include the package as an
essential factor in preservation
5. Packages suitable for meats include:
a. Wax- or paraffin treated kraft paper
b. Aluminum foil
c. Laminated foils
d. Films
6. Factors affecting suitability for packaging meat include (Romans
et al., 2001):
a. Have low moisture-vapor transmission
b. Have differing oxygen permeability
c. Are puncture resistant
d. Are pliability
e. Will maintain strength and pliability at sub-zero
temperatures
f. Are non-toxic
g. Are odorless
h. Are easy to mark for identification
i. Will peel from the meat when frozen (good stripping
qualities
j. Are greaseproof and stain proof
k. Provide good sealing properties
c. Chemical Methods of Preservation
i. Curing
1. Salt
This lesson was developed in partial fulfilment of the Texas Education Agency Educational
Excellence Project.
© Texas Education Agency, 2014
a. Salting is the oldest known method of preserving meat;
it is believed that the ancient Sumerian culture (3,000
B.C.) was the first to use salt to preserve meat and fish
b. Major ingredient in curing
2. Nitrate and Nitrite
a. Sodium nitrite is vital to curing process because it reacts
with myoglobin to produce the color characteristic of
cured meat
3. Sugar
a. Used for flavor function and to moderate the harsh
flavor associated with high concentration of salt
4. Reductants
a. Speed up the curing process and make it more uniform
5. Spices and seasonings
a. Give characteristic flavor
6. Phosphates
a. Increase water-binding and improve yield
ii. Smoking
1. Along with heating, is integral to curing process
2. Lowers microbial population due to heat and the addition of
chemicals during the process have bacteriostatic action
iii. Functions of modern commercial meat curing and/or smoking (Romans
et al., 2001)
1. Food safety
2. Refrigerated shelf life extension
3. Flavor development
4. Color development (internal and external)
d. Microbial Methods of Preservation
i. Competition
1. Competition for survival among mist population of
microorganisms
ii. Fermentation
1. Strong preservative action and produces rich flavors
2. Two types of fermented meat products:
a. Dry
b. Semi-dry
4. What factors should be considered when selecting a meat preservation method?
a. Factors to consider when selecting a preservation method:
i. The method should be practical and usable
This lesson was developed in partial fulfilment of the Texas Education Agency Educational
Excellence Project.
© Texas Education Agency, 2014
ii. The method should not make the product unpalatable or worsen its
appearance
iii. The method must not in any way harm consumers
Activity/Application/Student Engagement/Laboratory
1. Have students pick three methods of preserving red meat, poultry, and fish discussed
during the lesson and develop a protocol for conducting and experiment at home to
examine the impact of the various methods on the shelf life of the meat.
2. Students should develop a table and record their observations on a daily basis.
3. Once their experiment is completed, they should complete a lab report summarizing
their findings.
Evaluation / Summary
1.
Ask the following questions:
a. What is preservation?
b. Why is preservation of red meat, poultry and fish important?
c. What are the three broad categories of red meat, poultry, and fish
preservation?
d. What impact does moisture have on freezing?
e. Why is packaging so important in the preservation process?
f. How should you decide what preservation method to use?
References/Additional Materials/Extended Learning Opportunities/Enrichment
Cassens, R. G. (1994). Meat preservation: Preventing losses and assuring safety. Trumbull,
CT: Food & Nutrition Press, Inc.
Romans, J. R., Costello, W. J., Carlson, C. W., Greaser, M. L., & Jones, K. W. (2001). The meat
we eat (14th ed.). Danville, IL: Interstate Publishers, Inc.
Seperich, G. J. (1998). Food science and safety. Danville, IL: Interstate Publishers, Inc.
Zhou, G. H., XU, X. L., & Liu, Y. (2010). Preservation technologies for fresh meat – A review.
Meat Science, 86(1), 119-128.
College & Career Readiness Standard
English/Language Arts II.B.1
Mathematics
IV.B.1
Science
I.B.1, III.A.1, III.C.1
This lesson was developed in partial fulfilment of the Texas Education Agency Educational
Excellence Project.
© Texas Education Agency, 2014