Lamb (n = 79) meat colour was scored by 879 untrained consumers using a scale of 0 (brown) to 100 (red). This consumer colour score (CCS) was obtained on m. longissimus lumborum (loin) and m. semimembranosus (topside), stored for short (5–7 days), medium (33–35 days), and long periods (110–112 days) and a retail display time of up to 4 days. Consumers perceived topside to be less red initially and changed from red to brown more rapidly when stored for the long-storage period (p < 0.01). Whereas, the initial CCS of loin samples were similar across the storage periods (p > 0.05). CCS and the instrument measure oxy/met (reflectance of light at wavelengths 630 nm and 580 nm) had a low correlation coefficient of 0.33 (p < 0.01). The propensity for lamb growth and leanness indicated by sire breeding values for lamb weight, eye muscle depth, eye muscle fat depth, and loin intramuscular fat had varied and inconsistent effects on CCS. Therefore, even the selection on CCS.

Anecdotal suggestions that US consumers perceive Australian sheepmeat as more “gamey” or “stale” compared to US sheepmeat are potentially attributable to the extended chilled shipping times contributing to longer-aged meat and predominately pasture-fed grazing systems. This study evaluated the impact of diet and extended storage times on Australian sheepmeat using sensory scores as assessed by US consumers. Meat samples from Australian sheep (n = 80) fed a grass or grain diet were aged in a vacuum at 1–2 °C for 5, 21 or 45 days. Untrained consumers (n = 960) at Texas Tech University (Lubbock, Texas) assessed samples for overall liking, tenderness, juiciness and flavour using a scale from 1 (worst) to 100 (best). In general, US consumers scored grain- and grass-fed samples within the same storage period similarly (p > 0.05). Furthermore, storage from 5 to 21 days improved sensory scores by a maximum of 28.6 for tenderness for grass-fed outside cuts (p < 0.05), while storage for 21 to 45 days did not improve eating quality for most cuts of both diets (p > 0.05). This is an interesting finding for the Australian sheepmeat industry as long storage time has no negative effect on eating quality and US consumers enjoyed grass- and grain-fed sheepmeat equally.

This study evaluated the impact of high oxygen modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) in four different combinations, 80 % oxygen and 20 % carbon dioxide (MAP80), 40 % oxygen, 20 % carbon dioxide and 40 % nitrogen (MAP40(20CO₂)), 40 % oxygen, 60 % carbon dioxide (MAP40(60CO₂)), and vacuum skin packaging (VSP) under different retail display times (3 or 8 days) on the sensory scores of lamb meat. Untrained consumer sensory scores for overall liking, tenderness, juiciness and liking of flavour were assessed on the M. longissimus lumborum (loin) and M. semimembranosus (topside) of 144 lambs. In general, MAP40(20CO₂) samples received higher sensory scores than MAP80 (P < 0.05). While the high carbon dioxide MAP mixture MAP40(60CO₂) scored similar to MAP80 (P > 0.05). Therefore, MAP40(20CO₂) minimised the detrimental effects on eating quality and is a viable alternative to the widely used MAP80. However, the highest eating quality scores were still obtained with VSP (P < 0.05).

Intramuscular fat (IMF) % is an important measure of pork eating quality, with reduced IMF % linked to the selection of pigs with low backfat P2 thickness and more muscular genotypes over several decades. This experiment tested the association of IMF % from the M. longissimus thoracis et lumborum of 345 pigs at three abattoirs (Sites) with computed tomography (CT) determined carcass composition (% lean or fat), accredited abattoir measures of P2 backfat (mm) (Hennessy Grading Probe, AutoFom III and PorkScan Lite) and the lean % output from abattoir devices (Hennessy Grading Probe, AutoFom III and PorkScan Plus). There was a negative relationship between carcass CT lean % with IMF % at all Sites (P < 0.05), with the strength of this relationship varying between Sites. The strongest relationship was demonstrated at Site 1 (R² 0.30, RMSE 0.59), and across a 4 standard deviation range in the carcass lean % at each Site, resulted in a decrease in loin IMF % of 1.56, 0.44 and 0.80. There was a positive relationship of carcass CT fat % with IMF %, with similar, albeit slightly stronger relationship to IMF than with CT lean %. In contrast, only one of the three Sites with an accredited P2 measurement device demonstrated a significant association (P < 0.05) with IMF %. This is the first time the associations of IMF % with carcass CT composition has been assessed alongside that of P2 backfat measures from commercially deployed abattoir devices. Given P2 backfat is the key industry measure on which carcass value is determined in Australia, this experiment demonstrates the limitations that P2 has in measuring and monitoring the associations of carcass lean and fat % with IMF. Ideally, an independent measure of IMF % would allow for independent selection for lean % and IMF %, however there is currently no commercial device that can measure pork IMF %.

The Australian pork industry has been seeking a rapid and non-destructive way to predict pork chemical components and eating quality. In this study, near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) were applied to fresh pork Longissimus thoracis et lumborum (LTL) and Semimembranosus (SM) with the aim to build prediction models for intramuscular fat (IMF) content, collagen content and solubility, pH, and sensory attributes, namely tenderness, juiciness, liking of flavor and overall liking as well as investigate the effects of chemical components on pork eating quality. Results showed that the NIRS output, which was a predicted IMF content calibrated for the IMF of lamb, correlated with the chemically analyzed IMF content across both muscles. In LTL, NMR parameter p_2f was weakly correlated with IMF and pH. For the LTL, NMR parameters p₂₁ and p₂₂ were related to sensory tenderness, while T₂₂ was correlated with the liking of flavor. In both muscles, the collagen content and pH were related to all sensory attributes, and IMF was related to the liking of flavor. The chemical properties of SM were weakly correlated with those of LTL. The NIRS and NMR weakly predicted the pork chemical components and sensory properties, but more studies are required to improve the accuracy.