Storage, Functional and Processing Characteristics of Pre- and Postrigor Beef Preblends for Wiener Production

Pre- and postrigor coarse ground beef was preblended with either salt, salt plus antioxidants or salt plus nitrite and stored for an extended period of time at 2°C. Although prerigor preblends had a lower pH and more salt-extractable protein, smokehouse yields for pre- and postrigor wiener batters were similar. Wieners prepared from prerigor raw materials were generally more acceptable in appearance, flavor and juiciness and more desirable than wieners prepared from postrigor raw materials. Desirable sausage making qualities of prerigor beef raw material can be maintained by pre-blending raw material with 3% salt plus 60 ppm nitrite, packaging preblends to minimize exposure to air and storing at 2°C for up to 28 days. Addition of a mixture of butylated hydroxyanisole, butylated hydroxytoluene and citric acid to the preblend had no effect on functional quality of the raw materials.