Aging Applications On Beef Meat

Aging of meat is defined as a process which increases the taste and the flavor of the whole carcass or its parts naturally at refrigerator temperatures. The process is one of the oldest method used for the formation of flavor and tenderness in meat products. In the aging process, it is known that the mechanism enhancing the flavor and aroma development is caused by the increases in the density of the flavor components of the tissues by losing water and the mechanism causing the meat to be tender is caused by the breakdown of the connective tissue by the natural enzymes in muscle tissue. There are two aging methods (dry and wet aging) commonly used. In recently, dry aging in a bag, which can be used as an alternative to traditional dry aging method, is used. In the aging period, aging time, storage temperature, relative humidity and air flow are important in terms of meat flavor, shelf life, amount of shrinkage, microbial load, quality components and economic value of the meat. In this paper, aging processes and application parameters are reviewed in terms of the recent studies