Enhancing Frozen Chicken Meat Quality by Isochoric Storage as Compared with Conventional Frozen Storage

Isochoric freezing is an emerging technique for preserving food at subfreezing temperatures under moderately high pressure. This study investigated the impact of isochoric frozen storage (IFS) of chicken breast for 0, 3, 6, 9, 12, and 15 days using 2.5% NaCl solution at -4 °C on qualities including physicochemical and microbial attributes, as compared with samples under conventional frozen storage (CFS) at the same temperature. Results showed IFS samples exhibited slight enhancements in various quality parameters, including pH, protein solubility, TBARS, drip loss, shear force, yellowness, cooking loss, and a slow decreasing rate in lightness, redness, Ca2+-ATPase activity, total viable count, and TVB-N, while substantial changes occurred in CFS samples for all quality parameters. This suggests that the impact of high pressure in isochoric freezing would be advantageous in terms of microbial destruction and enzymatic inhibition, potentially offering better long-term preservation techniques for the industry.