Ice Crystal Effect
Ice may form inter- and intracellularly during freezing, which
ruptures membranes and changes the structure of the muscle
cells (Mazur 1970, 1984, Friedler et al. 1988). At a slow freezing
rate, fluids in the extracellular spaces freeze first, thus increasing
the concentration of extracellular solutes and drawing water
osmotically from the unfrozen cell through the semipermeable
cellular membrane (Mazur 1970, 1984). The diffusion of water
from the internal cellular spaces to the extracellular spaces results
in drip, collected from frozen muscle tissues when thawed
(Jiang and Lee 2004). Drip contains proteins, peptides, amino
acids, lactic acid, purines, vitamin B complex, and various salts
(Sulzbacher and Gaddis 1968), and their concentration in drip
increases with storage time (Einen et al. 2002). On the other