The use of small samples of pork permits the investigation of the effects of freezing rates, without the effects
of a thermal gradient. The effects of six freezing and
three thawing rates on the drip loss from small samples
of pork were investigated. At freezing rates with tcf of
12±120 min, drip loss obtained was not significantly
dierent from that obtained from the fresh samples
suggesting that the freezing process did not aect drip
formation at these rates. At the slower freezing rates
studied (tcf of 240 and >900 min), drip loss was significantly dierent from that obtained from the fresh
samples. After 4 weeks of frozen storage, the drip loss at
tcf of 12±120 min was significantly dierent form that of
the samples frozen but not stored. There were no significant dierences due to freezing rate in drip loss of
the samples stored for 4 weeks. Furthermore, the drip
loss from stored samples was not significantly dierent
from that obtained at the two slowest freezing rates with
no storage. There is no evidence to suggest that freezing,
frozen storage or thawing results in protein denaturation.
Studies to complement this work are being undertaken investigating the ultrastructure of the meat samples and
the eects of recrystallisation and extended storage.