Quality of meats from cuts of lamb and adult sheep carcasses. ISSN The animals were raised in grazing system with tifton pastures and supplemented with concentrate.
Lambs were slaughtered at 32 kg body weight, close to 5 months of age. Ewes and wethers were slaughtered with 55 kg and 60 months of age. There were no differences in pH 45mim and pH 24h values among different animal categories and muscles of carcass cuts. There was difference in meat luminosity between lambs and adult animals, considering all the evaluated muscles. The red level did not differ between adult categories, but it was higher than values observed in lambs.
In conclusion, meat from adult animals was darker than lamb meat. Considering all animal categories, cooking losses were higher in Triceps brachii compared to Longissimus lumborum and Semimembranosus. Values of pH and water retention capacity were similar among animal categories. Keywords : animal categories; color; cooking losses; pH; shear force. All the contents of this journal, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License.
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