Hot-boning, elevated temperature conditioning, and vacuum packaged aging influences on lamb cooking losses and palatability

Abstract

Wether lambs (64) were utilized to examine the effects of hot-boning (HB), elevated temperature conditioning (ETC) and vacuum packaged aging (VPS) on the cooking properties and palatability attributes of racks. Samples were HB at approximately 45 min post-mortem and ETC for 0, 2, 4, or 6 hr at 32°C. Following ETC, samples were VPS for 6, 13, 27, or 41 days at 1 ± 2°C. Wholesale racks could be HB at 45 min without influencing cooking losses or palatability attributes (P>0.05). VPS, however, improved initial and overall tenderness and reduced the amount of perceptible connective tissue, but increased total cooking losses, reduced juiciness, and intensified flavor (P<0.05).