Tenderizing technology for chilled cut yak meat by fermentation

Yak meat characterized by its bright red color and luster, its purity of flavor and its rich nutrition. Yet its muscle fibre is very thick, and "cold shrink" phenomenon makes its texture hard, and the degree of tender-ness is lower .In order to improve both the tenderness of chilled cut yak meat and its quality, the present study applied a tenderizing treatment to chilled cut yak meat with papain. Using L₉(3⁴) orthogonal experiment design, a series of the best tenderization technical parameters were selected: the concentration of papain is 9 mg/kg, the reaction temperature is 15℃, the reaction time is 3 h. After tenderizing, vacuum packaging and quick chilling, meat is preserved at 0～4℃. The results showed that papain can decrease the shearing force (48.44 N/cm²), the diameter of muscle fiber(8.03 μm), and the rate of water loss(5.91%). It also improves the taste and does not affect its shelf life(0～4℃, 9 d). These processes are simple and inexpensive and can be applied to industrialized production.