Evaluating high pressure processing as a strategy to accelerate water loss and its effect on eating quality in dry aged beef: A preliminary study

• High pressure processing has the potential to accelerate dry aging. • High pressure processing significantly reduced proteolytic activity in muscle. • High pressure did not significantly affect shear force values after 28 days aging. • High pressure significantly affected the lightness of muscle throughout aging. Dry aging (DA) of beef cuts is a process that requires a prolonged aging time (usually > 28 days) under controlled refrigerated conditions to obtain a distinctive product that has acceptable quality traits such as tenderness and colour, but with an enhanced signature flavour profile, when compared to wet aged meat. The objective of the current study was to investigate the potential of applying a high pressure pre-treatment (HPP; 200 MPa, 20 min at 8 °C) to bovine Longissimus thoracis et lumborum , to facilitate weight loss during dry aging (2 °C, 80 % relative humidity, air flow 0.5 – 2.0 m/ s), thus reducing aging time by assessing its impact on weight loss, and meat quality parameters such as colour, Warner-Bratzler shear force values and lipid oxidation (TBARS), over a 28 day aging period. Under the conditions of the study, it was found that the high pressure pre-treatment significantly increased the overall weight loss of muscle. However, the pre-treatment increased Warner-Bratzler shear force values when compared to the control at 21 days of aging. In addition, the HPP pre-treatment significantly increased TBARS values, bloomed lightness ( L* values) and myofibrillar fragmentation index, while significantly decreasing calpain activity compared to controls.