Modification of the vacuum-steam thawing method of meat by using the initial stage of sublimation dehydration.

Vacuum-steam thawing is one of the methods used for defrosting food, realized in the atmosphere of water vapour under the conditions of reduced pressure. The water vapour formed in vacuum with the temperature of 20 °C fills the defrosting chamber and condenses on the surface of the defrosted product. The condensated steam has the role of thermal energy carried enabling product thawing. The study presents a modification of this method, introducing an additional stage of sublimation-dehydration vacuum steam thawing (SRVST). The study was carried out for different variants of initial sublimation degree (in the range from 0 to 15%) of a slice of pork loin (m. longissimus lumborum) assessing the final effect of the process of vacuum-steam thawing. Thawing kinetics was determined with the SRVST method, degree of sample defrosting and level of their rehydration. Based on the results it was demonstrated that the use of 12% sublimation dehydration of a meat sample enables its complete defrosting (reaching the temperature not exceeding the cryoscopic temperature).