The Effect of Electromagnetic Field Preservation and Frozen Storage on the Quality of Mutton

ABSTRACT The study aims to explore the quality changes of mutton during different storage processes in order to identify optimal mutton preservation techniques. This research employs frozen storage (FS) and electromagnetic field preservation (EP) to store and preserve Guizhou white mutton (WG) and Qianbei Ma mutton (QG). The results showed that with the extension of storage time, EP treatment was able to inhibit the increase in cooking loss and TBARS (thiobarbituric acid reactive substances) values in mutton. The TVC (total viable count) and TVB‐N (total volatile salt base nitrogen) values in the EP group for both mutton types did not exceed the safety limits throughout the storage period. Under both storage methods, 75 volatile flavor compounds were detected in WG, and 72 volatile flavor compounds were detected in QG, with alcohols and aldehydes being the most abundant compounds in both types of mutton. Compounds such as hexanol, 1‐octene‐3‐ol, nonanal, octanal, and hexanal were significant volatile compounds showing notable differences between the two mutton types under both storage methods, with the EP group consistently having higher levels of these compounds during storage compared with the FS group. Therefore, EP technology helps maintain the quality of mutton, providing important theoretical support for the application of EP technology in the storage of mutton products.