Very fast chilling maintained pre-rigor quality of lamb carcass by modulating protein structure and oxidation levels

To investigate strategy for maintaining the pre-rigor quality of lamb meat, this study evaluated the effects on meat quality and myofibrillar protein (MP) characteristics in lamb carcasses subjected to three group: control group, chilling 1 and chilling 2, the chilling rates was 3.1 °C/h, 5.5 °C/h, 10.5 °C/h respectively. The results showed that VFC significantly delayed pH decline. The shear force of the back strap, outside, oyster cut, neck fillet roast in chilling 2 group decreased by 49.5%, 27%, 29.5%, and 33.78% compared to that in control group. The MP solubility, gel WHC, and emulsifying properties were also enhanced in VFC group compared to samples in control group. These results could be attributed to lower carbonyl content, higher sulfhydryl content, higher α-helix content and intrinsic fluorescence intensity. These results indicated that VFC maintains pre-rigor meat quality and MP characteristics by reducing protein oxidation and minimizing conformational changes in proteins.