Confinement odour, quality, and safety of thawed lamb racks, frozen after an initial ageing period of up to 3 weeks

Title
Confinement odour, quality, and safety of thawed lamb racks, frozen after an initial ageing period of up to 3 weeks
Publication Date
2025-02
Author(s)
Lynch, Emma E M
( author )
OrcID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2015-2004
Email: elynch20@une.edu.au
UNE Id une-id:elynch20
Holman, Benjamin W B
Type of document
Journal Article
Language
en
Entity Type
Publication
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Place of publication
The Netherlands
DOI
10.1016/j.smallrumres.2024.107421
UNE publication id
une:1959.11/70609
Abstract

French trimmed lamb racks (longissimus lumborum muscle, LL) were vacuum packaged, wet aged for 0, 1, 2, or 3 weeks (6 per ageing period, n = 24), and frozen. Thawed lamb racks were scored by consumers for pre-opening pack assessment, post-opening pack assessment and post-blooming sample assessment. Objective quality assessments for freshness and quality were then applied to these lamb racks. The sliminess and overall odour were higher after 3 weeks of ageing prior to freezing compared with 0 weeks ageing (P < 0.01). In addition, the total viable microbial counts (TVC) and ultimate pH were also higher after 3 weeks of ageing (P < 0.05); however, all values were within acceptable levels. The overall liking and freshness appearance during the post-opening pack assessment was inconsistent with ageing period (P < 0.05); although, there was no difference between ageing for 1 or 3 weeks prior to freezing, indicating there is no apparent advantage to ageing lamb racks for longer than 1 week prior to freezing. Furthermore, total viable basic nitrogen (TVB-N), total myoglobin and all the colour parameters did not differ (P > 0.05) and were within acceptable limits defined for fresh meat. Cooking loss, drip loss, expressible moisture and thaw loss were also unaffected by ageing period (P > 0.05). Overall, the results of this study indicate there is no benefit of ageing bone-in lamb racks for periods longer than 1 week prior to freezing, in terms of consumers’ satisfaction.

Link
Citation
Small Ruminant Research, v.243, p. 1-7
ISSN
1879-0941
0921-4488
Start page
1
End page
7

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