Ageing of Australian lamb beyond 14 days does not further improve eating quality

Limited studies are available assessing the impact of extended ageing on lamb eating quality of a wide range of cuts. From lamb (n = 153) and young mutton (n = 40) carcasses, seven cuts (eye of rack, eye of shoulder, knuckle, loin, outside, rump and topside) were collected and aged based on three ageing times (5, 14 or 21 days). Additionally, residual glycogen was determined from the loin at the corresponding ageing time. Untrained consumers assessed samples for tenderness, juiciness, flavour liking and overall liking. Increasing ageing time from 5 to 14 or 21 days significantly improved cut eating quality; however, ageing beyond 14 days showed no additional benefit. The ageing effect reduced when corrected for pH and temperature measurements, confirming ageing can improve eating quality when pH and temperature variation exists. Loin residual glycogen had no impact on eating quality at each ageing time. Our results confirm the importance of establishing optimum ageing times for cuts to ensure the highest consumer acceptability.

Chinese Consumer Assessment of Australian Sheep Meat Using a Traditional Hotpot Cooking Method

Hotpot is a widely popular cooking method for sheepmeat in China. This study measured the sensory responses of 720 untrained Chinese consumers to Australian sheepmeat cooked using a hotpot technique with methods based on Meat Standards Australia protocols. Shoulder and leg cuts of 108 lambs and 109 yearlings were scored on tenderness, juiciness, flavour and overall liking with linear mixed effects models used to analyse the influence of muscle type and animal factors on these scores. On average, shoulder cuts were more palatable than legs cuts for all sensory traits (p < 0.01) and lambs compared to yearlings (p < 0.05). Intramuscular fat and muscularity were identified as strong drivers of eating quality (p < 0.05), with greater palatability for both cuts as intramuscular fat increased (range 2.5 to 7.5%), and muscularity decreased (as measured through loin weight adjusted for hot carcase weight). Consumers were unable to detect differences between animal sire type and sex in sheepmeat hotpot. These findings suggest shoulder and leg cuts performed comparatively well in hotpot compared to previously tested sheepmeat cooking methods and emphasise the importance of balanced selection for quality and yield traits to ensure that consumer satisfaction is maintained.

High consumer acceptance of mutton and the influence of ageing method on eating quality

To compare the eating quality (EQ) of wet (WA) and dry aged (DA) mutton longissimus thoracis et lumborum (LTL) and semimembranosus (SM), bone-in leg and loin primals from 81 merino cull ewes were WA or DA for 14, 28, 42 or 56 days. Untrained consumers (n = 540) assessed the excised LTL and SM for EQ (tenderness, juiciness, liking of flavour and overall liking, 0-100), quality grade and respective willingness to pay (WTP). LTL scored higher than SM for EQ, P < 0.001 for all consumer sores. Mean LTL EQ scores were > 70 and mean SM EQ scores >54. Ageing method had no significant effect on LTL or SM EQ (P > 0.05 for all consumer scores). Ageing beyond 14 days improved SM and LTL tenderness. Consumers most often graded LTL and SM quality grades as "better than everyday" and "good everyday" respectively; corresponding WTP was 26.90 $AUD/kg and 18.80 $AUD/kg. Extended ageing periods improved mutton tenderness.

Effect of Pre-Slaughter Practises and Early Post-Mortem Interventions on Sheep Meat Tenderness and Its Impact on Microbial Status

Tenderness, together with flavour, is the main quality trait that defines consumer acceptance of sheep meat. The factors affecting tenderness can be grouped as those influenced before slaughter, in the early post-mortem intervention and, finally, during the aging period. These factors have been extensively studied with respect to tenderness, but the impact of early post-mortem interventions and subsequent aging on the microbial quality of the final products has not been broadly reviewed to date. In this review, the authors summarize the most recent knowledge on lamb meat tenderness management and how such practices may impact the final meat quality, especially its microbial status. The impacts of pre-slaughter factors (age, sex, diet, genotype and transport) and post-mortem interventions (chilling regime, electrical stimulation, or hanging method), are described and comprehensively discussed.

Bone mineral concentration predicted by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry and its relationship with lamb eating quality

Lumbar bone mineral concentration, as predicted by dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA), may reflect changes in lamb maturity and eating quality. New season (n = 60) and old season (n = 60) lambs were slaughtered and DEXA scanned at a commercial abattoir across 2 kill groups. The second lumbar vertebra was isolated from the spine for determination of calcium, phosphorus, and magnesium concentration (mg/g). The loin and rack cuts were collected for consumer sensory grilling and roasting analyses. Mineral concentration was significantly higher in old season lambs within kill group 1 (P < 0.05). DEXA was a positive predictor of phosphorus and calcium concentration, but only when DEXA lean % (P < 0.05) was included in the model. Calcium and phosphorus were significant positive predictors of overall liking scores (P < 0.05), but only for the rack roast. These effects became insignificant when DEXA lean % was included. These results suggest that DEXA values likely reflect changes in both DEXA lean % and bone minerals, and that DEXA lean % was the driver of eating quality, rather than maturity.

Precision finishing of South African lambs in feedlots: a review

In the intensification of sheep production systems, feedlot finishing plays a fundamental role in preparing lambs for slaughter, as well as relieving the grazing pressure on pasture. The profit margins in feedlot operations are often narrow and require the economics of scale to generate a sufficient income. In order to minimise expenses, intensive management and precision rearing of lambs to an ideal slaughter weight is needed to obtain premium carcass prices. The South African sheep industry is made up of wool, dual-purpose as well as meat type breeds, which also vary in terms of maturity. In order to implement precision finishing of South African lamb, a complete understanding of the growth, intake and fat deposition trends of growing lambs of different breed types is needed. This review outlines feedlot lamb production within the Southern African context for the major commercial breeds, while also providing insight in the considerations necessary to develop a decision support system for lamb rearing. Integrating such a decision support system into a lamb feedlot operation can then be used for precision finishing of lambs by predicting the optimal length of the feeding period and ideal slaughter weights of lambs.

Slaughter Characteristics of Feedlot-Finished Premium South African Lamb: Effects of Sex and Breed Type

This study compared the carcass characteristics of ram and ewe lambs from South African wool, dual-purpose, meat, and fat-tailed sheep types, reared to produce premium lamb carcasses. The lambs were reared on a feedlot diet (10.41 MJ ME/kg feed and 19.06% crude protein) from weaning (30 kg live weight) until they attained a back-fat depth of ~4 mm, measured using ultrasound. After slaughter, the carcasses were assessed for retail cut yields, composition, and physical meat quality. Later, maturing lambs attained heavier carcass weights than early maturing breeds (~20.7 kg vs. 16.9 kg, respectively; p ≤ 0.05), and differences in carcass composition and retail cut yields were ascribed to differences in the frame size and pattern of fat deposition of the respective breeds. Small differences in physical meat quality were observed, with meat from Dormer and Namaqua lambs having notably higher shear-force values (~46 N) than that from Meatmaster carcasses (~34 N). These differences though are expected to have little influence on the perceived quality of the meat.

Influence of Demographic Factors on Sheepmeat Sensory Scores of American, Australian and Chinese Consumers

Along with animal production factors, it is important to understand whether demographic factors influence untrained consumer perceptions of eating quality. This study examined the impact of demographic factors and sheepmeat consumption preferences on eating quality scores of American, Australian and Chinese untrained consumers. M. longissimus lumborum (LL) and m. semimembranosus (SM) were grilled according to sheep Meat Standards Australia protocols and evaluated by 2160 consumers for tenderness, juiciness, flavour and overall liking. Linear mixed effects models were used to analyse the impact of demographic factors and sheepmeat consumption habits on eating quality scores. Consumer age, gender, number of adults in a household and income had the strongest effect on sensory scores (P ≤ 0.05), although, the impact was often different across countries. Frequency of lamb consumption had an impact on sensory scores of American, Australian and Chinese consumers but larger sample sizes in some underrepresented subclasses for Australian and Chinese consumers are needed. Results suggest it is important to balance sensory panels for demographic factors of age, gender, number of adults and income to ensure sensory preferences are accurately represented for these particular populations.

Lamb Age has Little Impact on Eating Quality

There is an industry wide perception that new season lamb has better eating quality than old season lamb. This study aims to identify differences in consumer eating quality scores between two age classes in lamb. Consumer eating quality scores from eight cuts across the carcass were evaluated from new season (NS; n = 120; average age = 240 days) and old season lambs (OS; n = 121; average age = 328 days), sourced from four different flocks. Cuts were grilled (loin, topside, outside, knuckle and rump) or roasted (leg, shoulder, rack) and scored by untrained consumers for tenderness, juiciness, liking of flavour and overall liking. There was no difference in eating quality scores between the two age classes for the loin, leg, shoulder and rack. This was similarly shown in the topside with the exception of juiciness scores where NS lambs were higher than OS lambs. There was also a lack of age difference in the outside with the exception of flock 3 where NS lambs scored higher than OS lambs for all sensory traits. Across all sensory traits, OS lambs received on average 2.8 scores lower for the knuckle and 3.1 scores lower for the rump compared to NS lambs. These results show little difference in eating quality between NS and OS lamb, and highlight the potential to develop high quality OS or "autumn lamb" products, with a similar premium price at retail as NS lambs.