Study on the Effects of Different Thawing Methods on the Thawing Efficiency of Pork

The production and consumption of pork are substantial worldwide, with frozen pork being the primary form for storage and transportation. To evaluate the efficiency and quality of different thawing methods, we conducted experiments using 2 kg pork samples, comparing natural air thawing (NAT), vacuum steam thawing (VST), and a novel vacuum sublimation–rehydration thawing (VSRT). This study focused on evaluating the thawing efficiency, particularly energy consumption and thawing effectiveness, by analyzing key parameters such as the thawing time, thawing loss rate, and quality attributes. The results showed that VSRT achieved the shortest thawing time (54.60 min), with reductions of 55.37% and 34.61% compared to NAT and VST, respectively. VSRT also significantly reduced the thawing loss rate (by 85.66% and 79.27%) and total color difference (by 87.04% and 82.76%) compared to NAT and VST. The color and texture parameters of VSRT-thawed pork were closer to those of fresh meat (p > 0.05), while its specific energy consumption was 40.67% lower than that of VST. These findings highlight the potential of VSRT to preserve pork quality more effectively while offering faster thawing rates and lower energy consumption, making it a promising candidate for industrial-scale applications.