Changes of Quality Characteristics of Boiled Mutton During Low Temperature Storage

In order to deeply study the quality change characteristics of different tissues of boiled mutton during low-temperature storage, the lean meat, fat lean phase and fat meat part of boiled mutton were used as the main raw materials. The changes of pH, texture characteristics, color difference, total volatile base-nitrogen (TVB-N), total number of colonies and sensory evaluation were studied during its storage at 4 ℃ or low temperature for 28 days (samples were taken every 1 week) by vacuum packaging. The results showed that the pH value of different tissues of cooked mutton decreased first and then increased when stored at 4 ℃. The texture characteristics of fat meat were higher than those of lean meat and fat lean meat. During storage, the L^* value and a^* value of different tissues of mutton decreased gradually (P<0.05), the b^* value of lean meat increased (P<0.05), while the fat lean and fat meat decreased (P<0.05). The contents of total volatile base-nitrogen (TVB-N) and total bacterial count in three different tissues of mutton had been increasing, and the increasing speed and quantity of fat meat were higher than that of lean meat and fat lean tissue, and their sensory evaluation showed a gradual downward trend. Moreover, the quality of mutton had deteriorated when the storage time reached 14 days. The results showed that the quality of lean meat tissue was better during storage.