Performance of raw bovine meat preservation by hyperbaric storage (quasi energetically costless) compared to refrigeration

Hyperbaric storage at room temperature (without temperature control) of raw bovine meat was studied and compared to refrigeration. Samples were first stored for 12 h at 50, 100 and 150 MPa, and in a second set of experiments, for a longer period of 10 days at 50 MPa. For the 12 h storage, refrigeration and 50 MPa had a similar microbial growth inhibition effect and, at 100 and 150 MPa an additional microbial inactivation effect was found. For the longer experiment (10 days at 50 MPa) results pointed for a shelf-life increase of raw beef compared to samples stored under refrigeration. For both tests (12 h and 10 days) samples preserved under pressure showed no detrimental effect on physicochemical parameters comparatively to the initial and refrigerated samples.These results indicate that hyperbaric storage at room temperature not only allows high energy savings, but additionally has potential to extend the shelf-life of a perishable food product compared to refrigeration.