AROMA,COLOR, AND TEXTURE OF GROUND BEEF PATTIES TREATED WITH FUMARIC AND LACTIC ACIDS1

Ground beef patties without acid or with added fumaric (FA) or lactic acids (LA) at 1, 3, and 5% concentrations were vacuum-packaged and stored for 1, 3, 5, 7, 10 and 14 days at 4C or tested without storage (0 days). The FA or LA treatments caused small sour aroma increases. Spoiled aroma was lowest for samples with 1% FA at 10 or 14 days or 1% LA at 10 days of storage. Initially, 3 or 5% FA and LA samples had fading. Lightness scores of 1% FA or LA did not differ from the control initially or for up to 14 days of storage. Shear force values for 1 and 3% FA treatments were not significantly different (P>0.05) from the control. The 5% FA patties required significantly less shear force when compared with controls at 0, 1, 5, 7, and 10 days of storage.