Influence of post-slaughter processing on mutton quality

The aging condition, 0～4℃ will induce the mutton tenderness because of cooling contraction, which is not conductive to the production. This paper was tried to analyze the influence of different cooling temperature and hung position on the quality of German Merino. The results show that the better processing is as follows: cooling 8 h within 12～15℃, then aging 108 h within 0～4℃ by hanging the heel. The tenderness expressed by cut force is (1.32±0.18)kg/cm², and cooking lose rate is 20.4%. These processing can prevent the mutton contraction in chilling and aging processing.