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The purpose of the storage is to prevent the spoilage and putrefaction of the food. Regardless of the form of deterioration, one of the most important factors causing deterioration is microorganisms. Microorganisms ; Bacteria, molds and yeasts reproduce easily in conditions suitable for their reproduction. But, they reproduce very difficult in extremely hot-cold places, deprived of water and oxygen, and in extremely salty and acidic environments. The main purpose of all preservation methods; It is to make the breeding and reproduction conditions of microorganisms that cause putrefaction in foods unfavorable. The main cold storage methods applied to fresh meat and some meat products are as follows:
Cooling is applied to meat that will be consumed in a short time. If the meats are cooled in accordance with the technique and stored in the cold, they preserve the natural state of their qualities such as appearance, taste, color and texture, especially their nutritional values. For cooling, the beef carcasses are placed in the cooling warehouses, whose temperatures are set to -2 oC, and pig and sheep carcasses to -6 and -8 oC, as quickly as possible and the doors are tightly closed. Immediately afterwards, the temperature of the rooms is -3 to 0 °C for 12 to 24 hours, their humidity is 88-92%, air currents are 1-3 m/sec for cattle carcasses, 2-3 m/sec for pig and sheep carcasses through automatic control systems. is set. Immediately afterwards, by means of automatic control systems, The temperatures of the rooms are adjusted to -3 to 0 °C, humidity to 88-92%, air currents 1-3 m/sec for cattle carcasses, 2-3 m/sec for pig and sheep carcasses in 12 to 24 hours. With the pre-cooling created in this way, the core temperature of the carcasses can be reduced to +5 oC or even lower in 12 to 24 hours. .The factors to be considered in the cooling of the meat in cooling and preservation, in the cold storage period and in its effectiveness are as follows; The number of carcasses, the size of the carcass, the thickness of the carcass shell fat, the temperature of the cooling rooms, humidity, air flow and lighting conditions greatly affect it.
Carcasses with large build and thick carcass skin fat require pre-chilling for a very long time, about 72 hours. The cooling capacities of the warehouses should be carefully selected according to their size and the number of carcasses to be stored. Instead of a single large warehouse, several normal sized cooling units should be built and the dimensions of these warehouses should be 18-30 meters long, 7.5-15 meters and 4.8 meters high. The distance between the hanging hooks on the rails and the flooring should be 3.3 meters for cattle carcasses, 2.2 meters for ¼ cattle carcasses, 2.7 meters for veal and pigs, and 2 meters for sheep and goat carcasses. The cooling capacities of the rooms should also be calculated consciously. For this purpose, it should be considered that 750-880 Kcal/hour energy is required to cool a normal sized carcass (290 kg). It is necessary to control the humidity ratio in the environment while cooling the carcasses. Air flow should be provided in the cooling storage, provided that it is not excessive. Airflow is necessary to accelerate also cooling. If the air flow is too high, it causes weight loss (drying). As a result of excessive drying, the salt concentration on the surface of the carcasses increases. In this case, it increases the oxidation and metmyoglobin formation, causing the meat to darken and stale quickly.
