EFFECTS OF SOLUTION ENHANCEMENT ON PALATABILITY AND SHELF-LIFE CHARACTERISTICS OF LAMB RETAIL CUTS

The low demand for lamb in the U.S.A. requires the sheep industry to focus on the development of a means to simultaneously protect fresh lamb consumption from deteriorating and entice new consumer purchases based on palatability characteristics. Thus, the shelf-life and palatability attributes of lamb enhanced with salt, phosphate and rosemary were compared with traditional, fresh, nonenhanced lamb cuts. Wholesale loins and legs (n = 30/subprimal) were either injected to 112.5% of raw weight with the enhancement treatment (ENH) or not (Ctrl), and both ENH and Ctrl cuts were vacuum-packaged and stored 24 h before fabrication into 2.54-cm-thick chops/steaks. While color scores decreased (P < 0.05) for both loin chops and leg steaks over the 7-day display period, sensory panelists preferred (P < 0.05) ENH lamb over Ctrl chops and steaks. Results indicate that enhancement can improve the palatability attributes of lamb without detrimental effects on product shelf life.