Meats spoil due to the action of enzymes that degrade the proteins. Fresh meats can be preserved for long periods of time by freezing them. Explain how freezing meats works to prevent spoilage.

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All right. Hello everyone. So this question says that proteins and meat are broken down by enzymes leading to spoilage. Drying fresh meats effectively preserves them for extended periods. How does drying meat help prevent spoilage by affecting enzymatic activity? Now, here we have four different answer. Choices labeled A through D which we'll discuss in greater detail later on in this video for. Now. What is the principle of the question? Right, if we want to reduce spoilage, right, what we want to do is reduce enzymatic activity. So we want to reduce the effectiveness of the enzymes that are breaking down the meat and causing spoilage in the first place. So recall here that enzymatic activity in meat is dependent to an extent on water content. So drying the meat implies that you're reducing the water content, which should reduce enzymatic activity. And that's what we see here in the fact that drying fresh meats preserves them for extended periods of time. And so with this in mind, let's start with option eight, which reads that drying meat increases water activity, providing more free water necessary for enzymatic reactions, which helps in maintaining enzyme activity and decelerate spoilage now option A is not correct because it's actually the opposite of what we want to happen. Right. Increasing water activity will increase enzymatic reactions. But that's going to accelerate spoilage not decelerate. It. Option B however, says that drying meat induces protein denaturation which disrupts enzyme structure and activity, thereby reducing the potential for enzymatic degradation. This is true, right? Because by reducing the water content, we're more likely to induce protein denaturation or simply unfolding of a protein of the enzyme. So when the structure of the enzyme has been lost, the function of the enzyme has been lost. So it's not able to catalyze the reaction, meaning that it's not going to degrade the meat as quickly. So B is true. Now, B is true. But for the sake of completion, let's go through C and D C says that drying meat significantly increases the ph level, creating an environment that enhances enzyme stability and slows down spoilage. This is not going to be true, right? Because altering the water content is not going to alter the ph of the meat. And in any case, what we want is a reduction of enzyme stability, not an enhancement. Last but not least. Option D says that drying meat concentrates substrate and enzyme levels, potentially decreasing the rate of enzymatic reactions and contributing to slower spoilage. So option D is incorrect because when you reduce the moisture in the meat, both the substrate and enzyme concentrations are actually going to be lowered. And so this should also decrease enzymatic activity and slow down spoilage, it shouldn't concentrate them. So there you have it just to reiterate our correct answer is going to be option B in the multiple choice. And so with that being said, thank you so very much for watching. And I hope you found this helpful.

Meats spoil due to the action of enzymes that degrade the proteins. Fresh meats can be preserved for long periods of time by freezing them. Explain how freezing meats works to prevent spoilage.

Verified video answer for a similar problem:

Key Concepts

Enzymatic Activity

Freezing Process

Microbial Growth Inhibition