Beef sides were stimulated immediately after carcass dressing and then hot boned, the primal cuts being transferred to freezing or chilling at 2 hpost mortem. Despite rapid freezing (7#x2013;10 h) rigor was achieved before the meat temperature had fallen low enough ( 10#xB0;c) to induce cold shortening. The meat was as tender as that boned from sides chilled conventionally for 24 h. Alternatively, if the cuts were chilled to 5#xB0;3 over a period of 46 h before freezing, shortening was avoided and the meat aged to a highly aceptable and uniform level. Since bacterial growth was limited by the much shorter processing time, the meat was more wholesome than that produced by conventional chilling and aging procedures.
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