Evaluation of Physicochemical, Microbiological and Sensory Stability of Frozen Stored Vacuum-Packed Lamb Meat

Nowadays, lamb meat represents only 7% of all meat produced in the world. In recent years the demand for standardized lamb meat cuts has been considered of great importance and the marketing occurs predominantly in the form of frozen cuts. Herewith, the main of this work was to evaluate the stability and safety of lamb meat during frozen storage. Meats were vacuum packed in high barrier multilayer plastic films and stored during 12 mon at (-18 +/- 1)degrees C. The meat stability was assessed by physical and chemical (lipid oxidation, objective color, pH value, cooking losses and instrumental texture), microbiological (total count of psychrotrophic, coliform count at 45 degrees C, coagulase-positive staphylococci and the presence of Salmonella) and sensory analysis (acceptance test and visual evaluation). The vacuum packed lamb meat remained stable as to most physical and chemical indexes. Microbiological indexes showed good stability throughout the storage period according to Brazilian legislation standards to pathogenic microorganisms. Although a significant reduction in tenderness (shear force increase from 3 to 8 kg), it showed a good sensorial acceptance for all attributes tested, including texture, with scores of around 7 (like moderately) during the 12 mon of storage.. Therefore, it can be concluded that, under the conditions applied in this study, lamb meat presents a shelf life of at least 12 mon when stored at -18 degrees C.