Optimization of thawing of ground chicken by infrared radiation- warm air method using response surface methodology

Introduction: There are many methods for freezing and thawing of meat. Suitable technology must be applied for freezing and thawing of chicken to keep the quality of product effectively. Novel methods including high pressure, ohmic heating and high-voltage electrostatic field have been recently considered for thawing process. IR heating provides positive advantages compared to conventional heating such as reduced quality losses, shorten heating time, significant energy saving and uniform heating. Although IR has been used for various food treatments but a few researches have been reported for its application in thawing process. This study investigates the effects of this new method on thawing time, thawing loss, thawing rate, water holding capacity, color, pH, shear force, characteristics of frozen ground chicken and also optimizes the thawing conditions using response surface method.Material and methods: Fresh chicken breast was purchased from a local market (Gorgan, Iran). After washing and mincing, they were cut into a cube form (3×3×5 cm3) and stored in the freezer at -20 ℃ for 5 days before thawing process. Thawing was performed using an IR-warm air apparatus consisted of IR lamp (Far IR 1500 watts), heating elements (4 electrical elements with power 750 W), air velocity unit, centrifugal fan and thawing chamber. For thawing of samples, three variables including IR power (12.27- 247.73 W), air temperature (27.57- 49.43℃) and air velocity (0.21- 7.47 m/s) were applied. The central composite rotatable design was created by entering the three independent variables at five different levels in 20 runs with six central points. Response surface analysis was performed using Design-Expert software. The equipment was allowed to work at least 10 min to stabilize the specified conditions before the start of each thawing run. Frozen sample was then removed from freezer and placed under the infrared lamp with 12 cm distance. Quality of ground chicken breast was determined by thawing time, thawing loss, thawing rate, water holding capacity, pH and color indices.Results and Discussion: The methodology and techniques used in freezing and thawing processes play an important role in the preservation the quality of frozen foods. The results showed that increasing IR power, air temperature and air velocity decreased the thawing time (13.5–6.8 min), thawing loss (6.1–0.03 %) and increased thawing rate (11.11-30.67 cm/h), WHC (65.45–94.16 %) and improved the quality characteristics of thawed ground chicken. Generally, the ability of meat to retain free or bound water is one of the important quality characteristic of raw meat. One of the most important indicators of quality on thawing food is water holding capacity. The final pH is dependent on the amount of drip loss between the stocky and tenuous filaments. In addition, the difference in pH can be due to texture damage. Generally, the pH of chicken breast after postmortem is about 5.6- 5.8. The ∆E values and pH of the ground chicken breast was also in the same range during thawing process. Numerical optimization conditions were investigated based on the lowest thawing time, thawing loss and highest thawing rate and water holding capacity. The best suggested condition by the software was IR power 247.73 W, air temperature 38.97℃ and air velocity 6.75 m/s (desirability= 0.79). Based on the obtained result using T-test analysis, there was no considerable difference between the experimental values and the predicted one (P