Effects of Water or Brine Immersion Thawing Combined with Ultrasound on Quality Attributes of Frozen Pork Loin

This study explored the effects of water or brine (2% NaCl, w/v) immersion thawing combined with ultrasound treatment (40 kHz, 150 W) on the quality characteristics of pork. Ultrasound treatment of pork was conducted in two cold media (at $4^{\circ}C$), water and 2% (w/v) brine, respectively. Because the ultrasound treatment caused temperature increase in the media from $4^{\circ}C$ to $16^{\circ}C$, the qualities of pork thawed by ultrasound were compared with those thawed by immersion either in water or brine where the temperature was being maintained at either $4^{\circ}C$ (low temperature control) or $17^{\circ}C$ (high temperature control). The ultrasound treatment resulted in rapid thawing of pork where the thawing rate was similar to those thawed in the $17^{\circ}C$ media. For quality characteristics, ultrasound-treated pork in brine had an advantage of less cooking losses when comparing to the control. In particular, ultrasound treatment in brine exhibited the lowest shear force (or highest tenderness) among the freezing/thawing treatments. Although the ultrasound processing in brine caused discoloration of the pork, this thawing technique had potential to be applied as a commercial thawing technology for frozen foods.