Microbial Growth of Turkey Breast Meat in Immersion Ohmic Thawing

In this study, turkey breast meat was thawed by using the immersion ohmic method in three different treatments (66V, brine concentration 0.186% W/V), (120 V, brine concentration 0.186% W/V) and (120 V, brine concentration 0.25% W/V). The effect of this method on the growth rate of mesophilic and psychrophilic bacteria after thawing, were compared with traditional methods of thawing; Air (25°C) and water (40°C). Thawing time for air, water, ohmic (66 V, brine concentration 0.186% W/V), ohmic (120 V, brine concentration 0.186% W/V), and ohmic (120 V, brine concentration 0.25% W/V); 398 S, 107 S, 113 S, 97 S and 91 S were obtained, respectively, which indicated a significant decrease in the thawing time using the ohmic method compared to the traditional thawing methods. Also, with the increase in voltage, the thawing time to reach the set temperature decreased, but the effect of increasing brine concentration on the decrease of thawing time was insignificant. The results showed a significant reduction in the thawing time using the ohmic method. The results of analysis of variance of a completely random design indicated that the effect of different thawing treatments on the growth of mesophilic and psychrophilic bacteria was significant at the probability level of 1%. In the results of the mean comparison test between different treatments, a significant difference was observed at the five percent probability level. In ohmic thawing, with increasing voltage and brine concentration, the growth rate of bacteria was significantly reduced compared to other treatments. The lowest survival rates of mesophilic bacteria and psychrophilic bacteria, and also the shortest thawing time was observed in ohmic treatment of 120 volts in brine concentration of 0.25% W/V.