Meat Products : Vacuum Packed Chilled Meat

Vacuum Packed Chilled Meat is a Unique packaging process widely used for poultry, cheese and fresh chilled meat. Foods are packaged in special plastic bags which are then vacuum-sealed and shrunk to be like a second skin. The resulting package is air-tight and moisture proof, protecting the food from oxidation and dehydration during storage.

It extends storage life to 90 days or more at 2ºC while preventing weight loss from shrinkage and trimming loss.

Restaurants that buy fresh vacuum packed chilled meat can offer their customers meat that is both tender and juicy and save shrink and trim losses. Fresh meat can be bought for inventory, eliminating overbuying and under buying . Meat cutting and wastage are reduced.

Meat will become tender just as fast in vacuum pack as under ordinary hanging conditions because tenderizing is an enzymatic process that goes on inside the meat. Natural Enzymes in the meat act to break down the tissues and make the meat more tender. The so called aged flavor comes from mould growth and does not develop in Vacuum Packed meats.

Shrink and trim losses on unpacked fresh meat during two weeks of ordinary handling conditions may run as high as 5% from evaporation, dehydration and from removal of dehydrated, discoloured, or contaminated surfaces. Vacuum Pack eliminates these losses.

Meat Changes in colour from bright red to purplish-red when oxygen is removed from the Vacuum package by the vacuum sealing process. After the package is opened, and oxygen reaches the meat surface again, the original red colour returns.

The fluid is not blood, but drip which comes out from the cut surfaces of the meat. Natural pigments in the meat give the fluid a reddish-brown colour. The amount varies with the extend of cut surface exposed, the quality of the meat, and the storage conditions, but is usually less than 1% far less than what is lost by evaporation under ordinary hanging conditions.

A slight confinement odour may be noticed when the package is first opened, but it disappears within a few minutes.

The Extra moisture in this meat acts as a good heat conductor, and so cooking times may be shorter.

Different Cuts of Chilled Meat

Neck

Topside

Knuckle

Tenderloin