Determination of changes in microflora of frozen minced beef and lamb thawed by microwave process

Abstract

Today, microwave thawing technology is one of the methods used for defrosing of frozen food. Since the heating time is shorter than which is required for microbiological spoil of the food, microwave thawing has advantages such as high microbiological safety. In this study; changes of some microorganisms in the microflora (total aerob mezofilic bacteria, Enterobacteriaceae, Staphylococcus aureus and yeast-mould) occurred during the thawing process of frozen minced beef and lamb both by microwave processes were examined. Effects of microwave thawing on microorganizms were investigated in comparison with traditional methods.The data obtained in this research showed that in the minced meat thawed through microwave processor the counts for total aerob mezofilic bacteria and Enlerobacteriaceae were less than those done with other thawing processes. The highest counts for bacteria were obtained in the room temperature conditions. It was also discovered that the counts for yeast and mould were not affected by the changes in the thawing process. No Staphylococcus awreus was observed in any samples used in this study.