Thesis (M.Sc.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Veterinary Medicine - Department of Food Hygiene and Control

Although freezing is a good preserving technique that keep the meat quality for up to one year, nevertheless, repeating of freeze -thaw process represent a significant problem that affect the sensory, physicochemical and microbiological quality of meat. The objective of this study was to explore the effect of repeated freeze-thaw cycles (FTC) on sensory, physicochemical, microbiological characteristic of imported and local frozen broilers and study their effect on the shelf life of examined samples with one week interval FTC (Exp I) and one month interval (Exp II) . Frozen broilers were left in refrigerator at (4-7{u00B0}C) until complete thawing then it examined for the different parameters. Refreezing of thawed broiler carcasses was done in deep freezer at (-18 {u00B0}C) for one week and one month. As the number of FTC increased, the overall sensory characteristics declined significantly in raw and cooked broiler samples , drip loss increased significantly (P<0.05), Shear force increased after 1st FTC then decreased by the 3rd FTC in imported broilers, by 2nd FTC in local broilers. Sensory characteristics of imported broilers showed higher score than that of local broilers, which deemed as spoiled after the second FTC. pH increased significantly (P<0.05) among the cycles

Issued also as CD