Method for tenderizing and/or pasteurizing meat

A method of tenderizing retail cuts of unwrapped fresh meat or fresh meat encapsulated within a film which is impervious to moisture and pervious to ultraviolet rays in the 2600-3000 A.degree. range which comprises the steps of:

• (a) placing the meat within a closed chamber;
• (b) subjecting the outer surfaces of the meat to ultraviolet rays of such intensity that from 55% to 95% of the bacteria on the surfaces of the meat are killed within 60 minutes;
• (c) then terminating exposure of the surface of the meat to said ultraviolet rays before a color change occurs in the outer surfaces thereof;
• (d) permitting the natural enzymes within the meat to continue to break down the connective tissue thereof in the absence of ultraviolet rays on the outer surfaces of the meat while maintaining the temperature of the meat at a level which does not exceed the temperature while it attained during exposure to the ultraviolet rays;
• (e) resubjecting the outer surfaces of the meat to ultraviolet rays while the meat is at a temperature naturally attained from step (d) to kill most of the surface bacteria that are reproduced thereon during step (d) from the surface bacteria remaining after step (b), without lowering the temperature of the meat;
• and
• (f) repeating steps (b), (c), (d) and (e) until the meat has attained the desired degree of tenderization.